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61sT Congress 1 RFNATF / Document 

1st Session / toJ^iNAiJi. | ^^^ ^^^ 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO 



MESSAGE FROM THE 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 



w 



TRANSMITTING A REPORT BY THE 
SECRETARY OF STATE, WITH AC- 
COMPANYING CORRESPONDENCE, 
TOUCHING THE CONDITION OF 
AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO 



July 29, 1909. — Read; referred to the Committee on Foreign Relation? 
and ordered to be printed 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 



^ \\M 



DEC XI 1909 






To the Senate and House of Representatives^ 

I transmit for the information of the Congress a report by the Sec- 
retary of State, with accompanying correspondence, touching the 
condition of affairs in the Kongo. 

Wm. H. Taft. 

The White House, July 29, 1909. 



To the President: 

In view of the general public interest in the subject, it is thought 
you may deem it appropriate to transmit to the Congress for its 
information the accompanying copies of correspondence on the files 
of the Department of State touching the condition of affairs in the 
Kongo, which I have the honor to submit for this purpose if your 
judgment approve thereof, 

Respectfully submitted. 

P. C. Knox. 

Department of State, Washington, July 27, 1909. 

3 



LIST OF PAPEES. 

1. Consul-General Slocum to the Secretary of State, December 1, 1906. 

2. Tlie Secretary of State to Mr. Carter, December 10. 1008. 

3. Mr. Carter to tbe Secretary of State, December 12, 1906, telegram. 

4. Mr. Carter to the Secretary of State, No. 296, December 14, 1908. 

5. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 141, December 18, 1906. 

6. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, January 15, 1907, telegram. 

7. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 146, January 23, 1907. 

8. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 149, January 27, 1907. 

9. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, February 7, 1907, telegram. 

10. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, No. 93, February 9, 1907. 

11. Senate resolution, February 15, 1907. 

12. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 160, March 16, 1907. 

13. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, No. 96, April 1, 1907. 

14. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 199, July 12, 1907. 

15. Mr. Bliss to the Secretary of State, No. 215, August 27, 1907. 

16. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 241, October 16, 1907. 

17. Belgian colonial project. 

18. The Secretary of State to Ambassador Reid. November 4, 1907. 

19. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 249, November 13, 1907. 

20. Ambassador Reid to the Secretary of State, November 19, 1907. 

21. Consul-General Smith to the Secretary of State, November 20, 1907. 

22. Consul-General Smith to the Secretary of State, November 23, 1907. 

23. Mr. Reid to the Secretary of State, No. 216, December 5, 1907. 

24. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, December 6, 1907, telegram. 

25. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, December 7, 1907, telegram. 

26. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 261, December 7, 1907. 

27. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, December 16, 1907, telegram. 

28. Consul-General Smith to the Secretary of State, No. 13, January 2, 1908. 

29. Consul-General Smith to the Secretary of State, No. 14, January 3, 1908. 

30. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, January 9, 1908, telegram. 

31. The Secretary of State to Mr. Carter, January 10, 1908. 

32. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, January 10, 1908, telegram. 

33. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 279, January 15. 1908. 

34. Mr. Carter to the Secretary of State, No. 224, January 21, 1908, telegram. 

35. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, January 23, 1908, telegram. 

36. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, January 30. 1908, telegram. 

37. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 290, January 31, 1908. 

38. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, February 5, 1908, telegram. 

39. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 295, February 6, 1908. 

40. Mr. Carter to the Secretary of State, February 27, 1908. 

41. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 301, February 27, 1908. 

42. Mr. Carter to the Secretary of State, No. 545, February 28, 1908. 

43. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, March 6, 1908, telegram. 

44. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 306, March 9, 1908. 

45. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 308, March 10, 1908. 

46. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, March 19, 1908, telegram. 

47. Consul-General Smith to the Secretary of State, No. 21, March 21, 1908. 

48. The British Ambassador to the Secretary of State, No. 65, March 23, 1908. 

49. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 312, March 25, 1908. 

50. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, March 26, 1908, telegram. 

51. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of St&te, No. 316, March 26, 1908. 

52. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, March 30, 1908, telegram. 

53. Mr. Carter to the Secretary of State, No. 241, March 31, 1908, telegram. 

54. Mr. Carter to the Secretary of State, No. 567, March 31, 1908. 

55. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 318, March 31, 1908. 

56. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, April 1, 1908, telegram. 

57. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 319, April 1, 1908. 

5 



g LIST OF PAPEKS. 

58. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 321, April 3, 1908. 

59. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 322, April 7, 1908. ) 
60 The British Ambassador to the Secretary of State, No. (o, April 7, 19U&. 
61. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 323, April 8, 1908. 

62 The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador, No. 287, April 8, lyus. 

63 Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, April 8, 1908, telegram. 

64. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, April 8, 1908, telegram. 

65. Cousul-General Smith to the Secretary of State, April 9, 1908, 

66. Ambassador Reid to the Secretary of State, April 16, 1908. 

67. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 329, April 17, 1908. 

68. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 380, April 17, 1908. 

60. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 334, April 24, 1908. 

70. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, No. 159, April 29, 1908. 

71. Memorandum from the Belgian Minister, May 7, 1908. 

72. The Secretary of State to Mr. Wilson, May 9, 1908. 

73. Ambassador Rein to the Secretary of State, June 25, 1908. 

74. British White Book, Africa, No. 3, 1908, Cd. 4135. 

75. British White Book, Africa, No. 4, 1908, Cd. 4178. 

76. Memorandum from the Belgian Minister, July 24, 1908. 

77. Mr. Bliss to the Secretary of State, July 16, 1908. 

78. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 393, August 21, 1908. 
70. Bill providing for the government of the Belgian Kongo. 

80. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 401, September 18, 1908. 

81. The Belgian Minister to the Secretary of State, No. 652, October 1, 1908. 

82. The Belgian Minister to the Secretary of State, October 21, 1908, telegram. 

83. British White Book, Africa, No. 5, 1908, Cd. 4396. 

84. The Belgian Minister to the Secretary of State, November 4, 1908. 

85. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, November 10, 1908. 

86. Consul-General Handley to the Secretary of State, November 24, 1908. 

87. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 429, November 27, 1908. 

88. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 434, December 3, 1908. 

89. The Secretary of State to the Belgian Minister, January 11, 1909. 

90. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 449, January 26, 1909. 

91. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 462, February 19, 1909. 

92. British White Book, Africa, No. 2, 1909, Cd. 4701. 

93. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 474, March 17, 1909. 

94. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, March 29, 1909, telegram. 

95. Mr. Wilgon to the Secretary of State, No. 479, April 2, 1909. 

96. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 489, April 22, 1909. 

97. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State, No. 498, May 4, 1909. 

98. Mr. Wilson to the Secretary of State. No. 503, May 27, 1909. 

99. Memorandum fi-om the Belgian Minister to the Secretary of State, June 12 

1909. 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING THE INDEPENDENT 
STATE OF THE KONGO. 



No. 1. 

Consul General at Boma to the Secretary of State. 

No. 7.] American Consulate- General, 

Boma^ December i, 1906. 

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a confidential report 
concerning the Kongo Free State as a commercial undertaking. 

I beg to inform the department that this report is based upon per- 
sonal observation, personal reading of public documents, and conver- 
sations with officials, traders, and other trustworthy men of affairs. 



have, etc., 



Clarence Rice Slocum, 

Consul General. 



[Inclosure.] 
The Kongo Fkee State as a Commercial Undeetaking. 

Boma, December 1, 1906. 

I have the honor to report that I find the Kongo Free State, under the 
present regime, to be nothing but a vast commercial enterprise for the exploi- 
tation of the products of the country, particularly that of ivory and rubber. 

Admitted by Belgian officials and other foreigners here, the State, as I find 
it, is not open to trade in the intended sense of article 5 of the Berlin act, under 
which the State was formed. 

The State's regulations as to taxation of river craft is such as to preclude 
the possibility of private competition in the waters of the Kongo and its affluents, 
and thus, in my opinion, creates a violation of the spirit of the same act. 

The governing power of the State has apparently made every effort to dis- 
courage trade in its proper sense, constantly increasing taxation and various 
restrictions which, I shall point out further on, have all tended to discourage 
the traders of years' standing here, especially as no public improvements have 
been made worthy of comment. 

While it is true that Boma, the capital, presents a much different appearance 
than was the case a few years ago, and that railroads have been constructed in 
the lower and upper Kongo, I state that this has been done for the benefit of 
the State, or rather, to be exact, the controller of the Kongo Free State, and 
as an aid to the exploitation ( ?) of the products of the country; while, on the 
contrary, public utilities, such as sewers, water pipes, etc., have not been con- 
structed except a few kilometers here at Boma, where the tax for obtaining the 
service is so exorbitant that few are willing to pay it. 

With all the vast exportation of rubber and ivory, and its compensating value 
in European markets, not even a closed shed as a receptacle of imported goods 
exists in Boma. 

7 



8 AFPAIES IF THE KONGO. 

The quays at Boma and Matadi belong to railroad companies, in one of which 
the State Is reputed to possess no interest. , , ^ ^, r. ■^^r.,-^ ■R^^crc. 

The charges are deemed so excessive that the boats of the Compagnie Beige. 
Maritime du Congo are the only ones to employ this means of discharging their 

The German French, Portuguese, and English boats discharge their cargo 
into small boats, which are beached, and occasionally the contents spoiled 
through this necessity of trade. ^ ^ i „„ 

At Matadi, I believe, the French boats pay the rate demanded and dock ac- 
cordingly. 

BXJBBER. 

It is practically impossible for the trader to purchase and vend at a profit 
this commodity, as, in accordance with a decree of the King Sovereign under 
date of September 22, 1904, every trader purchasing rubber must, for every 100 
kilograms or fraction collected from trees or vines, plant 50 trees, and for herb 
rubber collected or purchased in like quantity, 15 trees. 

If the trader possesses no ground upon which to plant the trees required, and 
it is obvious that he has none, as none can purchase laud in quantity sufficient 
for such purposes, he must plant on the territory of the State and the trees be- 
come the property of the State thereby, and this notwithstanding the fact that 
the trader pays import and export duties, in addition to other taxes, such as that 
for the recruiting of clerks, office boys, servants, etc. — thus, 100 francs for a 
license to recruit the same, and an additional tax of 300 francs per head for 
every clerical employee (black or white), including the manager. 

As a proof of the utter absurdity of the law governing the planting of trees, I 
beg to offer the following incident : 

A certain trader of Thysville, having bought rubber, was informed that he 
would have to conform to the law as stated above. 

He asked that ground might be indicated to him where he could plant the 
required trees, but was officially informed, wherein lies the pith of my remarks 
on this subject, that he could plant at I.eopoldville, a distance of 160 kilometers 
interior. 

However, the more serious obstacle to rubber trading, so far as the " free 
trade" is concerned, is the export tax on this product, namely, the conventional 
tax for the present year of 40 centimes per kilogram, a supplementary tax of 
25 centimes, and a further domanial tax of 25 centimes — thus, 90 centimes per 
kilogram — which, it is to be noted, is a higher rate than the State allows the 
native for rubber furnished in payment of taxes, which varies, for no apparent 
reason, from 35 to 50 centimes per kilogram. 



The commercialism of the State or its governing power, is further evidenced 
in the local (?) ordinance of September 30, 1905, regarding the stamping of 
ivory; thus, for each elephant killed, one tusk becomes the property of the 
State (?) and the other must now, by the ordinance referred to, be stamped 
before being placed on the market. 

As the chiefs of the posts charged with this duty are also charged with the 
purchase of ivory for the State, it is natural to presume that very little of the 
ivory reaches the open market, and, in fact, does not. 

RESUME. 

There being no money in circulation in the interior of the State, the taxes 
are i)aid in kind, for the most part in rubber. 

The same is equally true of the colonial territory of the French Republic in 
the Kongo; but where the French Government have periodical sales of the 
products collected for taxes, enabling thereby the ordinary trader to acquire 
at Its market value that produce and ship to Europe, the Free State on the 
contrary, ships all iiroduce so collected for its own account. 

{^'^.['^'''''"^ ^^^'^^ ^^'^^ '■'^^'^*'* "liplies principally to the domanial lands and 
not to the produce of the concessionary companies. 

As to the concessionary companies, it is obvious that where there is no com- 
petition the native is at llio mercy of the concessionaire, so far as the value 
of the goods given iu exchange is concerned. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 9 

In my opinion, it is tlius obvious that under the system prevailing at the 
present time in the Kongo Free State, the just equivalent of foreign manufac- 
tures can not enter, and thus what should be a profitable market for the 
foreign producer, if the spirit of the Berlin act were carried out, is lost. 

That this is true is borne out by the fact that there are no private traders 
in the upper Kongo with the exception of five trading companies at Stanley- 
ville, which enjoy somewhat of a privilege in trading in what is known as the 
Free Zone, an area of about 50 by 10 kilometers. 

It is common report here, even among the officials of Belgian origin, that in 
every one of the concessionary companies the State holds the controlling 
interest. 

I have no means at my disposal to prove this statement. 

Respectfully submitted. 

Clarence Rice Slocum, 

Consul-General. 



No. 2. 
The Seci'etary of State to Charge Carter. 

[Telegram.] 

Department or State, 
Washington, December 10, 1906. 
Moved by the deep interest shown by all classes of the American 
people in the amelioration of conditions in the Kongo State, the 
President has observed with keen appreciation the steps which the 
British Government is considering toward that humanitarian end. 
You will say so to Sir Edward Grey, inviting from him such informa- 
tion as to the course and scope of the action which Great Britain 
may contemplate under the provisions of the general act of the Kongo 
and in view of the information which the British Government may 
have acquired concerning the conditions in Central Africa, and you 
will further express to Sir Edward Grey the desire of the President 
to contribute by such action and attitude as may be properly within 
his power toward the realization of whatever reforms may be coun- 
seled by the sentiments of humanity and by the experience developed 
by the past and present workings of Kongo administration. The 
President's interest in watching the trend toward reform is coupled 
with the earnest desire to see the full performance of the obligations 
of articles 2 and 6 of the general Africa slave-trade act of Brussels 
of July 2, 1890, to which the United States is a party, in all that 
affects involuntary servitude of the natives. 

EooT. 



No. 3. 
Charge Carter to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Embassy, 
London, December 12, 1906. 
"With reference to your telegraphic instruction of 10th instant, re- 
ceived yesterday, I saw Sir Edward Grey same afternoon. He was 
much gratified to learn of the President's interest and the attitude 



10 AFFAIRS IF THE KONGO. 

of our Government in regard to the amelioration of conditions in the 
Kongo. His Majesty's Government are not at present advised of 
the attitude of the other signatory powers in this regard, but they 
think, in view of the reports of their own agents and that of the 
Belgian King's commission, that a radical change is necessary in the 
management of affairs in *the Kongo. He specified more especially 
the conditions of forced labor in rubber under guise of taxation, 
which was practical slavery, leaving out of consideration the various 
reports of cruelty and other atrocities. He felt that there should be 
a parliament behind the government in the Kongo, by which he 
meant that the Belgian Government should become resj)onsible for the 
administration of affairs in that locality. He therefore had post- 
poned any action to await the result of the present debate upon the 
subject now going on in the Belgian Parliament. He seemed to think 
the main obstacle in the way to annexation by Belgium was the diffi- 
culty in agreeing upon terms with the King. In the event, however, 
of the Belgian Government not being able to arrive at such a conclu- 
sion His Majesty's Government would feel constrained to address 
a note to the signatory powers, suggesting a conference. He never- 
theless hoped that such a contingency might be avoided by the action 
of Belgium, and he promised to keep us promptly informed of any 
developments. 

Carter. 



No. 4. 
GJiarge Carter to the Secretary of State. 

No. 296.] American Embassy, 

London, Decemher i^, 1906. 

Sir: I haA^e the honor to inclose herewith a translation of your 
telegram, dated the 10th instant and received at this embassy on the 
morning of the 11th, respecting affairs in the Kongo, and also a trans- 
lation of my telegram in reply thereto of the 12th instant. 

In this connection I have the honor to inclose herewith a clipping 
from the Times of this date reporting a reply made by Sir Edward 
Grey m the House of Commons to a question put by Mr. Alden, the 
member for Middlesex, as to whether there would be an international 
conference to consider the situation in the Kongo Free State. It will 
be perceived that the answer mentioned was doubtless based upon th*^ 
intormation which I conveyed to him at your instance. 
I have, etc., 

John Eidgelt Carter. 

[Inclosure 1.] 

Memorandum.^ 

The President, moved by deep interest shown by all classes of the American 
people in the amelioration of conditions in the Kongo State has obsei^ertw^tS 
keen appreciation the stops which His M ajesty's Government are cons'deTi^g 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. H 

toward that humanitarian end. The American Government would be glad to 
have such information as to the course and scope of action as Great Britain 
may contemplate under the provisions of the general act of the Kongo, having 
in view the information which His Majesty's Government may have acquired 
concerning the conditions in Central Africa, it being the desire of the President 
to contribute by such action and attitude as may be properly within his func- 
tion toward the realization of whatever reforms may be counseled by the senti- 
ments of humanity and by the experience developed by the past and present 
workings of the administration of the Kongo. 

The president's interest in watching the trend toward reform is coupled with 
the earnest desire to see the full performance of the obligations of articles 2 
and 5 of the general Africa slave-trade act of Brussels of July 2, 1890, to which 
the United States is a party, in all that affects involuntary servitude of the 
natives. 

December 11, 1906. 



[Inclosure 2.] 

[The Times, Friday, December 14, 1906.] 

The Kongo. 

Sir E. Grey, replying to a question by Mr. Alden (Middlesex, Tottenham) as 
to an international conference to consider the situation in the Kongo Free State, 
said: 

" The plan of summoning an international conference has not specifically been 
mentioned. But the United States Government have recently intimated their 
desire to contribute to the realization of whatever reforms may be counseled by 
sentiments of humanity, and by the experience of past or present administration 
in the Kongo State. As the honorable member is no doubt aware, such an an- 
nouncement is most cordially welcomed by His Majesty's Government. But, 
pending the decision to which Belgium may soon come, it is unnecessary to make 
any further statement at the moment." 



No. 5. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 141.] American Legation, 

Brussels^ December 18, 1906. 

Sir : I have the honor to report to the department the proceedings 
and conclusion of the debate in the Belgian Parliament upon the 
question of the proposed annexation of the Kongo Free State to 
Belgium. 

It may be useful at this point briefly to recite the antecedents upon 
which the present discussion is based, and the circumstances which 
have made this question since 1890 an issue in Belgian politics.* 

In the year 1890 the Kongo Free State, finding itself in financial 
stress, secured from Belgium a loan of $5,000,000, and simultaneously 
with the granting of the loan by the Belgian Government, of which 
the present minister of state, Mr, Beernaert, was then the head, the 
testament of King Leopold bequeathing the Kongo State to Belgium 
was made public. Though by its publication this testament trare 
f erring the sovereignty of the country acquired the force of f»^iigo's 
convention, the Belgian Government deemed it wise to take, ereignty 

tional precaution of stipulating, in granting the loan, th" 

State should " contract no new loan hereafter without 



12 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

the Belgian Government," and, further, " the Belgian Government 
should be supplied with such information on the economic, com- 
mercial, and financial situation as will be desired." 

It was also provided that within six months after the expiration of 
a term of ten years Belgium might, if she found it to her advantage 
to do so, annex the Kongo State, " with all the property, rights, and 
advantages attaching to the sovereignty of the State." 

The year of 1895 found the Kongo State involved in fresh financial 
difficulties, and application was again made to the Belgian Govern- 
ment for authorization to contract a new loan. At the same time His 
Majesty the King announced his willingness to cede the sovereignty 
immediately. A measure providing for annexation was accordingly 
proposed to the Chambers on January 12 by the Count de Merode, 
Minister for Foreign Affairs. It met, however, with determined op- 
position, principally from sources which at the present time are sup- 
porting annexation. The discussion was prolonged until May 18, 
when a proposal was made, without qualification or stipulation, that 
an additional loan be granted. 

On this question the Count de Merode resigned his portfolio. The 
loan, however, was granted, and during the next session the govern- 
ment withdrew the bill for annexation. 

It is evident that during all this time His Maj'esty the King was 
willing, if not desirous, of transferring the sovereignty of the Kongo 
State to Belgium. But when the period fixed for the expiration of 
the right of Belgium to annex arrived in 1901 the situation had 
entirely changed. 

In the intervening period the Kongo Free State had ceased to be a 
burden, and had become a very profitable source of income to the royal 
exchequer, and the royal disinclination to hand over the valuable reve- 
nues to Belgium became more marked as the revenues increased. 

In accordance therefore with His Majesty's desires, it was pro- 
posed to, and accepted by, the Belgian Parliament that in recognition 
of the signal success of the King's administration the right of an- 
nexation previously conceded should be waived as to any fixed time, 
though the right itself was not otherwise modified. 

The direct result of this legislation was that the conditions of the 
convention of 1890 were abrogated, and the Kongo royal revenues 
were freed from the necessity of meeting the interest of the loan of 
1890. Belgium retained the right of annexation, but lost the right 
of demanding reports on the Kongo budget, and also the right of 
limiting the power of the King to contract other loans or grant addi- 
tional concessions. 

This situation, highly satisfactory to the King but not wholly so to 
Belgium, was not arrived at without the exercise of the full influence 
of the royal prestige and the strenuous exertions of the government 
party. 

The dissatisfaction with existing conditions in the Kongo has, 
since the enactment of this legislation, been steadily growing, and 
^he popular discontent found expression following "the publication 

Tiiie pamphlet on the Kongo by Mr. Felicien Cattier in a prolonged 
keeu ainre?^^^ ^jebate during the last session of Parliament. 
. mission bore fruit in the reluctant agreement of the King j 

<» Handed by f^ommission to inquire into the administration of the ! 

tary of state for Drt the result of their findings. The report of this 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO, 13 

commission, which was forwarded to the department in my No. 64, 
led to the appointment of a commission on reforms, whose report' 
containing numerous and valuable recommendations for the better- 
ment of conditions in the Kongo, was forwarded to the department 
in my No. 99.'^ 

In issuing the royal decrees to carry into effect the recommenda- 
tions of this report His Majesty at the same time addressed a letter 
to the secretaries-general of the state. 

******* 

The Belgian Parliament assembled under the pressure of a vigor- 
ous public opinion which demanded an early and definite solution 
of the question in harmony with Belgian interests. 

Coincident with the opening of the session, an interpellation was 
niade by Mr. Hymans (Liberal) on the " situation created for Bel- 
gium, with reference to the eventual annexation of the Kongo by 
the letter of the King Sovereign, dated June 3 last, and the testa- 
mentary act thereto appended." 

Some twelve or fifteen members participated in the discussion 
following this interpellation, but it will not be necessary to give more 
than an outline of the arguments. 

Preliminary to the discussion, the premier. Count de Smet de 
Naeyer, stated that the Government was not wholly adverse to annexa- 
tion, realizing that great advantages might result therefrom. He 
stated that a condition precedent to annexation would be the existence 
of a law defining the regime to be introduced in the Kongo following 
annexation, and the negotiation of a convention for the transmission 
of the King's sovereignty in the Kongo to Belgium. 

Mr. Hymans then opened the discussion, under the interpellation, 
by asserting that this was a question to be solved independently of 
outside pressure and in harmony with the interests and dignity of the 
Belgian Kingdom. 

******* 

He directed his remarks in following to the conventional right of 
Belgium to carry annexation into effect whenever it should see fit, 
holding that the con'rention of 1890, which was fortified by the testa- 
ment of His Majesty bequeathing the Kongo to Belgium, were irrevo- 
cable acts of two sovereign powers which could not be modified, except 
by the free and full consent of both of them; that, as the right of 
annexation had never been relinquished by Belgium, it remains in- 
tact — a State within a State — requiring simply the affirmative ini- 
tiative of the Belgian Parliament to put it into practical execution. 
He protested in a dignified but resolute way against the tone and the 
matter of the King's letter of June 3 last, and said that the letter was 
not only ill advised and replete with false premises and erroneous 
conclusions, inacceptable to the Belgian people, but was calculated to 
promote rather than allay interference from the outside. 

Concluding, Mr. Hymans said that, preliminary to annexation, a 
detailed examination into the affairs of the Kongo Free State would 
be necessary to ascertain exactly what was being annexed, as there 
existed a variety of opinions not only as to the state of the Kongo's 
finances, but also as to the obstacles to complete Belgium's sovereignty 

• Printed, Foreign Relations, 1906, p. 100, 



14 AFFAIRS IIT THE KONGO. 

created by concessions to the subjects of foreign powers, and^the unde- 
fined juridical person known as the " Domain of the Crown. 

The speeches of Mr. Van den Heuvel, minister of justice, and Mr. 
Woeste (Government), who followed Mr. Hymans in behalf of the 
Government, present no essential ditlerences. Both admitted that 
the right of annexation existed, thougli they were not equally as 
positive as to the advantages to be derived therefrom ; both defended 
the King's administration in the Kongo, asserting that the Berlin act 
had not been in any way violated by the granting of monopolies 
repugnant to the letter aiid spirit of that instrument, and both dep- 
recated a preliminary examination into the affairs of the Kongo 
prior to annexation as a profitless and ungracious return for the 
royal generosity in bequeathing the Kongo to Belgium. 

Neither speaker attempted to argue the constitutional points raised 
by Mr, Hymans. 

Mr. Huysmans (Liberal) adopted practically the position of the 
Government, and, while declaring for annexation, pronounced him- 
self as opposed to any action which might be interpreted as a reflec- 
tion upon the King's administration of the Kongo or would in any 
way detract from the merit and generosity of the King's action. 

Mr. Beernaert (Government) was not in accord with his party, 
but very nearly, if not entirely so, with Mr. Hymans. 

He spoke with authority, as he had been premier at the time the 
original loan was made to the Kongo and had exercised a keen inter- 
est at that time in securing the convention with the King which is 
the basis of Belgium's present rights in the Kongo. 

The fact that Mr. Beernaert carried with him, in support of Mr. 
Hymans's position, some twelve or thirteen government members, thus 
placing in doubt the Government's position, undoubtedly exercised a 
very strong influence in determining the result at the conclusion of 
the debate. 

At the conclusion of the debate it became evident that no one of the 
various motions which had been submitted had a majority, and it was 
therefore determined at a consultation between the liberal and gov- 
ernmental forces that a new " ordre du jour," or motion, should be 
framed which would meet the demands of public opinion and com- 
mand a healthy majority in the chamber. 

The following " ordre du jour," or motion, was therefore sub- 
mitted and adopted, with only 30 (Socialists) votes dissenting: 

The Chamber, 

Referring to the order of the day voted at the session of March 2, 1906; 

Rendering homage to the greatness of the worli in the Kongo and of the 
patriotic intentions of its founder ; 

Convinced that the civilized ideas which governed the establishment of the 
Independent State should continue to occupy the first place in the consideration 
of the country; 

Considering that Belgium is authorized by the royal testament of August 2 
1889, to exercise full sovereignty over the independent State of the Kongo- that 
it possess also the right to annex the Kongo in virtue of the royal letter of 
August 5, 1889, and of the law of August 10, 1901, asserting the p'rinciiile con- 
tained in the convention of July 2, 1890; and that it is to the interest of the 
country to definitely determine the question of annexation during the lifetime 
of the King; 

Acting on the statements of the Government according to which the declara- 
tions contained in the letter of the 3d of June do not constitute condition " but 
solemn recommendations;" the convention determining the session will onlv 
have in view the completion of the transfer and the prescription of the ex- 



AITAIES IN THE KONGO. 15 

ecutive measures connected therewith; the Belgian legislative power will ex- 
ercise full right of control in instituting the regime for the colonial possessions ; 

Considering that the committee charged with the examination of the bill of 
August 7, 1901, relative to the regime of colonial possessions, should be advised 
to adapt said regime to the conditions and needs of the independent State of 
the Kongo, and should have at its disposition for this purpose all the informa- 
tion necessary for drafting the law; 

Acting on the declaration of the Government that it is ready to give its assist- 
ance in furnishing the committee all documents necessary to the elaboration of 
a law for colonial possessions ; 

Desiring, without prejudging the conclusion, to have the question of annexa- n 
tion of the Kongo submitted to it within as brief a delay as possible, in ac- // 
cordance with the views expressed by the Government; '' 

Gives expression to the wish that the committee should hurry its work and 
report in as brief a delay as possible. 

The ordre du jour is adopted. 

It will be noted from reading the " ordre du jour " that three 
definite and important declarations are made : 

First, the conventional right of Belgium to annex the Kongo in 
such manner and at such time as the Belgian legislative power may 
determine. 

Second, that the necessity for prompt and diligent action by the 
committee having the colonial law in charge is urgent. 

Third, that the Kongo administration is charged to immediately 
furnish the committee full information as to the present status of the 
Kongo State. 

By the affirmation of Belgium's conventional right to exercise sov- 
ereignty over the Kongo, the conflict between the King as absolute 
sovereign of the Kongo and the Belgian legislative power ceases, and 
a free hand is given for the institution of a Belgian colonial regime 
whenever the Belgian Parliament shall determine upon annexation. 

By the injunction of haste to the committee, the Belgian legislative 
power announces its intention to accomplish annexation as soon as 
the details essential to the framework of the colonial law shall come 
into its possession. 

By the instruction to the committee to receive, and the Kongo 
administration to furnish, all essential details of the nature, scope, 
and condition of the present Kongo regime, notice is given to the 
world that light will be shed upon an hitherto impenetrable situa- 
tion, and, further, that as a condition precedent to annexation it must 
be demonstrated that there is something to annex. 

A great forward step toward annexation has therefore been taken, 
and the question of the right of annexation having been clearly and 
definitely settled, it may be anticipated that the logical and certain 
resultant therefrom will be annexation itself within a year, unless it 
should be discovered in the investigation made into the existing 
system that carrying the right to its conclusion would involve Bel- 
gium in great difficulties without adequate compensation. 

The further developments in the situation will be noted and re- 
ported to the department from time to time. 

As of possible use to the department, I inclose copies of the 
" Compte Rendu Analytique," which contains in the French text a 
resume of the debates.** 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 

* Not printed. 



16 APFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

No. 6. 
The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. 

tTelegram.] 

Department of State, 
Washington, January 15, 1907. 
Our attitude toward Kongo question reflects deep interest of all 
classes of American people in the amelioration of conditions. The 
President's interest in watching the trend toward reform is coupled 
with earnest desire to see full performance of the obligations of ar- 
ticles 2 and 5 of slave-trade act, to which we are a party. We will 
cheerfully accord all moral support toward these ends, especially as 
to all that affects involuntary servitude of the natives. It is the 
President's desire to contribute by such action toward the realization 
of whatever reforms may be counseled by the sentiments of humanity 
and by the experience developed by the past and present workings of 
the Kongo administration. The Belgian Parliament having adopted 
principle of annexation and appointed a committee to arrange details, 
it is alike proper that the wish of the President for substantial im- 
provement of conditions in the Kongo be made known, and that he 
should for the present observe an expectant attitude, as we understand 

is the policy of some of the powers signatories to the act of Berlin. 
* * * 

EOOT. 



No. 7. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 146.] American Legation, 

Brussels, January 23, 1907. 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of department's 
cablegram of January 15." 

A study of the cablegram, after its translation, convinced me that 
the department had not overlooked the fact that I hold no credentials 
to the Kongo Free State and could not for that reason maintain an 
official correspondence with it, but, desiring to have our attitude and 
the President's views brought to the attention of the Kongo Govern- 
ment, relied upon me to accomplish that result in such way and man- 
ner, officially or unofficially, as might seem most advisable. 

On the day following the receipt of the cablegram I happened to 
meet at breakfast, in the house of a mutual friend, Mr. Edmond Carton 
de Wiart, the King's secretary, whom I have known more or less inti- 
mately since my first arrival here, and with whom I have frequently 
discussed phases of the Kongo question. 

AVhen an opportunity offered, I asked Mr. Carton de Wiart whether 
It would suit him, and would be agreeable to His Majesty the King, 
to take knowledge of the contents of a cablegram from the Secretary 
otbtate expressing our attitude on the Kongo quest ion. He answered 

* Supra, 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 17 

that he would be very pleased to bring anything of that kind to the 
attention of His Majesty in a purely informal way. I accordingly 
handed him a copj^ of the cablegram. 

He read the text carefully and understandingly, but did not ask for 
a copy. The only comment he made was to inquire whether my gov- 
ernment was fully informed as to the present status of the Kongo 
question and the reforms that Avere in contemplation. 

I answered that the legation had transmitted all available infor- 
mation to Washington. 

On the next day, not being entirely sure that I had taken the most 
effectual method of bringing our attitude to the knowledge of the 
King's Government, I paid a visit to the Chevalier van der Elst, the 
secretary -general of the Belgian cabinet, who has been the unofficial 
intermediary through which I have acted always in Kongo matters, 
and said to him that I was in possession of an expression of the atti- 
tude of our Government relative to the present status of the Kongo 
question, and being without credentials to the Kongo Government I 
was uncertain as to what would be the most acceptable manner of 
making these views known. 

The Chevalier expressed his willingness to convey the contents of 
my cablegram to the knowledge of His Majesty, and asked to be per- 
mitted to take a copy of the same. This I gave him, and I under- 
stood him to intimate that I might perhaps receive an acknowledg- 
ment, with some comments, later on. 

Yesterday the King's secretary, Mr. Carton de Wiart, came to the 
legation to ask me whether the department was in possession of the 
Bulletin Officiel de I'Etat Independant du Congo, No. 6, twenty- 
second year, June, 1906, which contains, on pages 230-231, under the 
caption " Impositions directes et personnel les," articles 1 and 2 of the 
royal decree relative to direct and personal taxes to be paid by the 
natives. This publication has already been forwarded to the depart- 
ment, but I take the precaution of inclosing another copy herewith. 

Whatever further information I obtain will be promptly trans- 
mitted to the department. 

I will be gratified to know whether my course in this matter meets 
with the approval of the department. 

I have, etc., Henky Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure — Translation.] 
Article I. 

Article 2 of the regulation for direct and personal taxation annexed to the 
decree of November 18, 1903, is to be substituted by the following : 

Art. 2. Every adult and able-bodied native is subject to tax, either indi- 
vidually or collectively. 

The governor-general shall fix the amount of the tax proportionally to the 
resources of the several regions and to the population and to the degree of 
development of the jiatives. It can not be less than 6 francs nor more than 24 
francs per year. 

The tax is payable monthly, but the district commissioners may extend the 
period to two or three months, according to the requirements and heeding the 
particular needs of the natives. 

Art. 2 bis. The natives may pay either in kind or in labor, 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 2 



"I^g . ATTAIES IN THE KONGO. 

The district commissioners shall fix the articles, either from the natural 
products 01 industry of the natives, which are to be accepted m payment of 
the tax and their equivalent value. . . 

Thev shall fix the kind of work which the natives may give m payment of 
the tax They shall, taking as a basis the local wage rate, fix the equivalence 
in money of an hour's labor. They shall fix the quantity of produce repre- 
sentative of an hour's labor, taking into account the conditions under which 
the natives procure the product, the richness of the forest, its distance from 
the villages, the nature of the product, the method of gathering it, etc., but 
in such way that the number of hours of labor corresponding to the tax shall 
in no case exceed forty per month. 

Article II. 

Articles 28, 29. 31, 32, 33, and 34 are substituted by the following : 

Art 28. Each year, before September 1, the district commissioners shall 
assess' the amount of taxes for the following year according to the number of 
the natives residmg in the territory of the district. 

Before the 1st of March of each year the district commissioner shall take a 
supplementary census. The taxes set by the supplementary assessment are not 
to be collected until the July following. 

The census shall bear the names of the natives and the share of tax due from 
each. They shall indicate, by divisions of the region, the various work or 
products utilizable which shall be accepted in payment of the tax, conformably 
with article 2 bis of the present regulation, and the share of compensation due 
to the contributors by virtue of article 33 below. 

Akt. 29. In exceptional cases the governor-general may, for good reason, remit 
part or all of the tax to the natives on populations which he may designate. 

Art. 31. A table of equivalents, as provided by article 2 bis, is to be drawn up 
by the district commissioners, which must be approved by the governor-general, 
at the same time as the assessment for the tax. 

Except in case of necessity, and then by permission of the governor-general, 
upon the suggestion of the district commissioner, the natives are not permitted 
to furnish as payment of the tax domestic beasts or birds, nor ordinary station 
labor. 

A-RT. 32. The heads of posts or agents of the state specially designated by the 
governor-general, are charged, under the surveillance of the district commis- 
sioners, with the collection of the tax and may take to that end the necessary 
measures. The collection may be direct or through the native chiefs. 

It is forbidden to arm " capitas " or sentries with breech-loading or improved 
rifles in collecting payments overdue. 

Art. 33. To encourage the taste for work the natives are accorded, outside of 
the delivery of the products or in return for days of labor which they shall 
furnish, remuneration based on the value of the products or the local wage 
rate. 

The remunex'ation is payable in merchandise at the choice of the natives or 
in notes upon the state's stores, payable upon pre.seutation. 



No. 8. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretarij of State. 

No. 149.] American Legation, 

Brussels^ Jarmary 27, 1907. 

Sir: In my No. 146, referring to a conversation with the King's 
secretary, Mr. Carton de Wiart, re the department's cablegram of 
January 15, I intimated that possibly His Majesty might think it 
fit to make some observations thereon, and that in such case I would 
at once transmit the same. 

I have just received from Mr. Carton de Wiart a note— copy and 
translation of which is inclosed— together with a memorandum 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 19 

evidently drawn to meet the suggestions contained in the depart- 
ment's cablegram. A copy and translation are transmitted herewith, 
together with a copy of the circulars and instructions therein re- 
ferred to. 

So far as I am able to judge from my knowledge of the Kongo 
question, the memorandum is a correct statement of the Kongo Gov- 
ernment's policy and of the workings of its administration. I 
consider it worthy of the department's attention and study. 
I have, etc., 

IIenry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure 1. — Translation.] 

Cabinet of the King, 
Palace of Brussels, January 25, 1907. 
Mr. Dear Minister: I have the pleasure of sending you herewith the infor- 
mation suggested by our conversation of tlie other day. 

Please accept, etc. Carton de Wiart. 



[Inclosure 2. — Translation.] 

T. Following is a description of the manner in which the provisions of articles 
2 and 5 of the act of Brussels have been realized in the Independent State of 
the Kongo : 

Article 2 defines the r61e of the interior stations and crossings. Inde- 
pendently of their principal mission, which is to prevent the capture of slaves 
and to close the slave-trade roads, their object is : 

1. To serve as points of refuge and aid to the population, to diminish the 
intestine wars between tribes, to instruct them in agricultural works and indus- 
trial art, and to bring about the suppression of barbarous customs. 

Regarding the slave trade, it may be said that it exists no more. The de- 
struction of the power of the Arab slave traders in 1892 and 1893 devolved on 
the state, then just organized, considerable sacrifices, but it has resulted in put- 
ting an end definitely to the chase and trade of human beings. In 1892 the 
Arabs covered the country from the Tanganyika to the Sankuru, and, masters 
of Nyangwe, Kassongo, Stanleyville, they found their way to the north near 
Bomokandi. This whole region was the field of their depreciations, and at that 
time it was stated that the slave trade — with accompanying murders — made 
annually a million victims. At the beginning, the government assumed toward 
them an expectant and conciliatory attitude, nevertheless strongly organizing 
its military resources. It was very soon convinced, however, that persuasion 
would not induce them to adopt the ways of honest commerce ; the Arabs 
attempted to force the military barriers adopted to restrain them, and the con- 
fiict was produced. It terminated with the taking of Stanley Falls, of Nyangwe, 
the rout of Rumaliza in Tanganyika, and the defeat of all the chiefs of any 
importance. 

The effective occupation of all these posts by the forces of the Kongo State 
has rendered impossible a continuance of the regime of slavery. The iufiuence 
of the victories of the state over the Arab traders has, in reality, reached far 
beyond our frontiers in wiping out the Arab organization which devastated not 
only certain parts of the Kongolese territory, but all Central Africa. 

Relative to the point before mentioned of the subordinate duties devolving 
upon the stations, it may be said that they have been equally accomplished. It 
will suffice to call attention to the fact that 296 posts of the state have been dis- 
tributed over all the territory which is actually occupied, in such way that 
efficacious protection is given to the population and internal wars between the 
tribes prevented. 

Relative to barbarous customs, human sacrifices, mutilations, trials by poison, 
etc., not only have they been legally condemned by our penal legislation (decree 
of September 18, 1896), but in addition the organization of the state, the de- 
velopment of lines of communication, and the extensive exploration of the 



20 AFFAIES m THE KONGO. 

regions of the interior are in tliemselves certain factors for the extinction of 

2\nd'3 To ^ive aid and protection to commercial enterprises, to maintain 
the observance of law in controlling particularly the contracts of service with 
the natives, and to establish permanent agricultural centers and commercial 
houses, as also to protect and to assist without distinction the missions founded 

or to be founded. ,. , ^ ~ ^.t, ,. + ^^ +t,„ 

We must rely on statistics to prove the accomplishment of that part ot the 
task assigned to the interior stations. If there are to-day, in the upper Kongo 
alone 2iQ commercial houses and stations (the number of trading posts for the 
whole territory exceeding 500), and if the present existence there of more than 
a hundred permanent Catholic and Protestant missions is considered, it must 
be admitted that these different establishments exist because of the protection 
afforded them by the government posts. The control of relations between mer- 
chants and natives is provided for by the decree of November 8, ISSS, which 
regulates contracts of labor. 

4. To furnish sanitary service and hospitality and aid to explorers and to all 
those who aid in the work of wiping out the slave trade in Africa. 

The state has organized medical service in all the districts. By introducing 
the study and practice of vaccination it has combated with success the spread 
of smallpox, and it at present combats the new disease of sleeping sickness, 
which desolates all of Central Africa ; it will suffice to indicate here that by a 
decree of the 3d of June last a credit of 300.000 francs was made available for 
the study of the disease and a prize of 200,000 francs was established to be 
awarded to whomsoever should discover an effective cure therefor. It assists 
and subsidizes the missions or scientific institutions which are engaged in the 
study of this disease in the Kongo. There is in Brussels a school of medicine 
for tropical diseases which has just been created for the instruction and equip- 
ment of state physicians and more especially for their initiation in bacterio- 
logical processes. Relative to hospitality and assistance to be furnished to ex- 
plorers and to those who combat the slave trade, it should be noted that the 
Anti-Slavery Society, established on the banks of the Tanganyika at the time 
of the Arab war, with the active support of the state, has worked with success 
in the extinction of the slave trade. The explorers and commercial agents, as 
well as the tourists and sportsmen of all countries, have always enjoyed the 
most generous hospitality in the Kongo, and recently many American citizens, 
notably Messrs. William Geil, Verner, Herbert Brigman, and Professor Starr, 
have stayed for long periods in different parts of the territory and have received 
every assistance. 

The fifth article of the Brussels act provides that the different contracting 
powers shall make legal provision for the punishment of every kind of slave 
trading and of all attempts against personal liberty. 

A report to the Sovereign King " on the legislation of the Independent State 
relative to the suppression of slavery and the protection of the black race," 
published in the Bulletin Officiel of 1SS9, No. 11, pages 197 and following, 
recounts the penal provisions taken at that time for that purpose. The report 
says : 

"All attempts against personal liberty will be considered as offenses punish- 
able under the provisions of article 11 and following of penal code. Whomso- 
ever, by violence or threats, has carried away or caused to be carried away, 
arrested or caused to be arrested in an arbitrary manner, imprisoned or caused 
to be imprisoned, any person, is punished (article 2) ; whoever sells any person 
into slavery is punished. By these general regulations the traffic, the trans- 
portation, and the detention of persons as slaves falls under the provisions of 
the penal law." 

Supplemental to these regulations, a decree of July 1, 1891, provides punish- 
ment, as required by article 5 of the Brussels act, for the capture, the convey- 
ance, and the trade in slaves, the transportation and the concealment of slaves, 
the formation of organizations for the purpose of trading in slaves, all attempts 
against persouiil liberty, mutilations, etc., etc. A report was published in the 
Bulletin Ofliciel of 1895, pages 100 and following: ''Relative to the measures 
taken by the Independent State in putting into effect the provisions of the 
Brussels act." This report analyzes not only the legislation in the matter of the 
slave trade, but recites also the regulations established in the matter of intro- 
duction of arms and spirits, the application of the law in these matters be'ng 
considered, in tlie act of Brussels, as closely connected with the measures taken 
for the e.xtirpatiou of the epidemics which decimate the native population 



AFFAIRS IF THE KOKGO. 21 

In these different directions the legislative system installed by the state has 
gone beyond the scope of the provisions of the conference, thereby assnming 
heavier burdens than any power holding possessions in Africa. 

Recently, publications hostile to the state have attempted to place upon it 
the responsibility for the reappearance of the trade in slaves on the Tanganyika. 
According to the testimony of a Catholic missionary, certain merchants coming 
from a neighboring colony took back with them not only rubber, but also slaves 
bought from the native chiefs. It is not denied that cases of this kind occur ; it 
would indeed be strange if caravans should not succeed in smuggling slaves as 
well as products, owing to the circumstances that they have in their employ 
numbers of employees. According to the statements made to the press by Mon- 
signor Roelens, superior of the vicarage of the upper Kongo, this traffic is not 
made extensively, and in fact it has only been necessary for this prelate to indi- 
cate the evil to the central government at Brussels to obtain an order to or- 
ganize an active guard to prevent its repetition. It is nevertheless very difficult 
to prevent some infractions of the law. It is to the interest of the state to apply 
all its resources to that task ; moreover, since these infractions cover the odious 
traffic in human flesh— even though this traffic existed in infinitesimal propor- 
tions — all the efforts of the Government will be nevertheless directed to wiping 
it out, and it expects to succeed fully. 

II. Relative to the "inhuman treatment inflicted on the natives," the existence 
of which is affirmed by Senator Lodge in the motion submitted to the Senate 
at Washington, " ought to attract the attention of the civilized world and to 
arouse the indignation and compassion of the American people," it may be 
positively affirmed that there does not exist any organized system for the 
maltreatment of the natives, though it may be admittecT that there occur in the 
Kongo, as in all the countries of the world, even the most civilized, individual 
crimes ; but whenever such crimes are brought to the knowledge of the judicial 
authority their authors are prosecuted in the courts, the practical development 
of the state having as its corollary the widening of its civilizing influence in 
the material and moral condition of the natives. 

The report of the investigating committee has indicated the improvements 
which ought to be made in the condition of the natives. The suggestions of 
the investigating committee, the impartiality of which the most ardent enemies 
of the Kongo State are compelled to acknowledge, has been studied by an examin- 
ing committee, whose proposals have been formulated in a series of decrees on 
June 3, 1906, and published in the Bulletin Officiel of the Independent State 
of the Kongo, 1906, No. 6. On the question of the reforms realized by these 
decrees, the chief of the British foreign office said to the House of Commons 
on July 5 last : " If they should be applied in good faith they may produce 
a great change; they may produce much good." The state employs all its 
resources to effectually apply them. The circulars and instructions relative 
to the execution of the decrees of June 3, 1908, have been published in the 
Bulletin Officiel and this is the guaranty of the desire of the Government that 
the reforms referred to shall be carried out. A copy of these circulars is 
herewith inclosed. 

All the arguments of the critics of the state consists of accounts that in 
certain villages the period of compulsory work exceeds forty hours a month. 
This can not be called inhuman treatment, and it would be better for the 
informants of the Kongo Reform Association, instead of agitating Europe, 
to bring the offenses to the attention of the local authorities, who, if the infor- 
mation is found to be correct, may be depended upon to punish them. 

It may be affirmed that there are no instances of inhuman treatment in cases 
where the state is concerned. Relative to taxes, although the new decrees 
establish the principle that taxes are payable in money, it has been left to the 
choice of the natives to make payment in money, in work, or in products — in 
products in default of work, in money in a sum less than that paid in any 
African colony. 

It is reasonable to suppose that so long as the circulating medium remains 
contracted and limited the greater part of the natives will elect to pay the tax 
in labor equivalent to the amount of tax in money. No one denies that this 
system is legitimate. The British minister for foreign afl'airs, at the session 
of the House of Commons referred to before, expressing his appreciation of the 
reforms initiated by the Kongo State, admitted that " if a native can not pay 
a tax and if his work is given to the state in lieu thereof, such labor may be 
properly termed a tax." This system of paying taxes by labor exists, moreover, 
in all the African colonies, because the most of the laws recognize the fact that 



22 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 



the native, since he is incapable of paying a gf^ ^^ -^el'^Sc^^^^^^^^ 

sssELTMr s|r ;r^£^=^^ J wo. ^ -- - 

o? the ax i'^fS^bidden^-an'd tSs worlS performed only by. official agents. 
The st-ite inspectors have been instructed to pay especial attention to the labor 
Sx aid to secu7e good treatment to the natives. The methods to beemployed 
ntninst natives who refuse to pay their taxes are defined by law m precise 
fSis and are iSed to imprisonment, excluding corporal punishment. The 
fw^ say that in case of refiisal to make payment of the tax by labor, those 
ioTfva.: Lt nossessiu- either goods or chattels may be compelled to discharge 
^iSlouS^nZiS-ti^^^^ the decree of June 3, 1906). The Punishment 

consists in imprisonment, during which the prisoner is required to work 
(art cle 55) ; the imprisonment shall not exceed one month (article 57), and 
it may not be put into effect except after two successive personal notices, each 
wit-Vi fifteen intervening days (articles 58 and 59). 

in accuiaS knowledge of the fiscal regime in force in the Kongo upsets abso- 
luttlv the idea of inhuman compulsory labor or of the imposition upon the 
natives of cruel and unusual tasks. It is well known that the native always 
complains of the payment of taxes; the African negro is particularly indolent 
and unless the law is made to harmonize with the theory of industry he will 
remain indefinitely in a condition of idleness and laziness, and would be an 
invincible obstacle to the introduction of civilization and the improvement of 
Africa. 

No. 9. 
Minister Wilson to tlie Secretary of State. 

[Telegi-am — Paraphrase. ] 

American Legation, 
Brussels^ Fehruary 7, 1907. 
Minister for foreign affairs of Belgium called on me yesterday for 
the purpose of expressing his viev^s relative to the possible effect of 
the Lodge resolution now before the Senate. . Having expressed a 
desire that his observations should be transmitted by telegram to 
AVashington, I requested a memorandum on the subject. This he 
gave me, and it is as follows : 

The Belgian Government having learned that the vote on the Lodge resolution 
is represented in the United States as being conducive to the immediate annexa- 
tion of the Kongo by Belgium, the minister for foreign affairs, in a private 
conversation, has thought it expedient to call the attention of Mr. Wilson 
unofficially to the declarations of the Cabinet and of the leaders of the different 
political parties during the last discussion in the Chamber of Representatives 
on the Kongo question, according to which Belgium affirmed its intention to 
decide the question of annexation after a thorough examination of the subject 
and in the free exercise of its independence and autonomy. 

Wilson. 



No. 10. 

Tlie Acting Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. 

No. 93.] Department of State, 

Washington., Fehruary 9, 1907. 
Sir : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch, No. 146, 
of the 23d ultimo, acknowledging the receipt of the department's 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 23 

telegram of the 15th of the same month communicating to you this 
Government's attitude in relation to the Kongo question, reporting 
your action in making His Majesty's Government aware of its con- 
tents, except so much thereof as refers to the resolution pending in 
the Senate, and asking whether the department approves your course. 

In view of the fact adverted to on page 2 of your dispatch, that 
you hold no credentials to the Kongo Free State and therefore can 
not maintain an official correspondence with it, the department is of 
the opinion that you have acted wisely in this matter and approves 
your course. 

You are requested to furnish the department with a list of the 
members of the diplomatic corps at Brussels who are accredited to 
the sovereign of the Kongo State and to report how they are so 
accredited. 

I am, etc., Robert Bacon, 

Acting Secfetary. 



No. 11. 
Senate resolution in regard to the Kongo. 

In the Senate of the United States. 

February 15, 1907. 

Whereas it is alleged that the native inhabitants of the Basin of 
the Congo have been subjected to inhuman treatment of a character 
that should claim the attention and excite the compassion of the peo- 
ple of the United States : Therefore, be it 

Resolved^ That the President is respectfully advised that in case he 
shall find that such allegations are established by proof, he will re- 
ceive the cordial support of the Senate in any steps, not inconsistent 
with treaty or other international obligations, or with the traditional 
American foreign policy which forbids participation by the United 
States in the settlement of political questions which are entirely Euro- 
pean in their scope, he may deem it wise to take in cooperation with 
or in aid of any of the powers signatories of the treaty of Berlin for 
the amelioration of the condition of such inhabitants. 
Attest : 

(Signed) Charles G. Bennett, 

Becretary. 
By H. M. Rose, 

Assistant Secretary. 



No. 12. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 160.] American Legation, 

Brussels, March 16, 1907. 
Sir : Referring to the last paragraph of the department's No. 93, of 
February 9 (File No. 1806/102-103), in which a list of the members 



24 AFFAIRS m THE KONGO. 

n-f fl.P rlmlomatic corps of Brussels who are accredited to the Sov- 
erein o trKongo Itate is requested, I have the honor to report 
that^I find upon investigation that none of the members of the resi- 
dent corns are so accredited. , 

Such business as diplomatic representatives are obliged under m- 
stmctions from their g-overnments, to transact with the Kongo Free 
State IS usually carried on very much in the same manner as has 
been the custom in this legation. „f;^ u^^^l 

The experience of other legations m transacting diplomatic busi- 
ness in this irregular and informal way has not been found satis- 

^It^should be remembered, however, that those acute phases of the 
Kono-o question requiring delicate handling, accurate information 
and intelligent understanding have developed only during recent 
years, and the necessity for adequate diplomatic representation has 
therefore only lately become of pressing importance. 

* % * * * * . * 

I have no information as to the intention of any government to 
accredit representatives to the sovereign of the Kongo State. 

I am, however, of the opinion that, in our case, the clothing of the 
diplomatic representative of Belgium with additional powers to the 
Sovereign of the Kongo State would contribute considerably toward 
more efi'ective diplomatic action. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 

No. 13. 

The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. 

No. 96.] Department of State, 

Washington, ApHl 1, 1907. 
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 160, 
of the 16th ultimo, reporting that none of the powers has accredited 
a diplomatic representative to the sovereign of the Kongo Free State, 
and suggesting that if the American minister were so accredited 
more effective diplomatic action would result. 

In view of the action of the other powers, no change in the practice 
of the United States in this regard appears to be necessary. 
I am, etc., 

Robert Bacon, 
Acting Secretary. 

No. 14. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No, 199.] American Legation, 

Brussels, July 12, 1907. 
Sir: I have the honor to report that at the session of the Belgian 
House of Representatives on July 10, the prime minister, J. de Trooz, 
responding to an interpellation submitted by Deputy Paul Hymans, 



APFAIES IN THE KONGO. ^5 

leader of the Liberal party, stated that the Government proposed 
immediately to take up the question of the annexation of the Kongo, 
and that pourparlers were being exchanged with the Independent 
State for the purpose of establishing the basis of the negotiations. 

The prime minister, in connection with this statement, laid before 
the House correspondence which had recently been exchanged be- 
tween the Belgian Cabinet and the secretary-general for foreign 
affairs of the Independent State. 

Copies of the correspondence (inclosures Nos. 1 and 3) are trans- 
mitted herewith, together with translations thereof (inclosures Nos 
2 and 4). 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure 1. — Translation.] 

The Minister of Interior to the Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs. 

Brussels, June 29, 1907. 
Monsieur le Chevalier : At tlie time of assuming control of affairs the Gov- 
ernment laid before Parliament a declaration outlining its policy. We liave 
now the honor to communicate to you herewith the portion of that declaration 
which relates to the Kongo. 

As you may see, Monsieur le Chevalier, by perusal of this document, it is the 
intention of the Cabinet to make it possible for the Chambers to act upon the 
question of a colonial law and to determine if the interest of the country will 
iustify the annexation of the Kongo at the present time. 

The Government proposes, in this connection, to the government of the Kongo 
immediately to initiate the negotiations with the object of embodying their 
views in a convention to be submitted to the Chambers. 

This convention, following the lines of that which was concluded on the 9th 
of January, 1895, will consummate the transfer and define the measures neces- 
sary to carry the same into effect. 

It appears opportune at this time to designate special delegates selected by 
the two States to pj-epare the said convention. 

It would accord with our views to have four plenipotentiaries designated on 
each side to take charge of the work. 

We therefore beg you to advise us if the views of the Independent State agree 
with ours on this sub.lect 

Please accept, etc., Minister of Interior, 

(Signed) J. de Trooz. 

Minister op Foreign Affairs, 
(Signed) Davignon. 

Minister of' Justice, 
(Signed) Renkin. 



[Inclosure 2. — Translation.] 
The Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs to the Minister of the Interior. 

Brussels, July 8, 1907. 

Monsieur le Ministre: By letter of the 29th of June last, the Belgian Gov- 
ernment has made known to the government of the Kongo State its intention 
to enable the Chambers to consider a colonial law and to determine whether 
the interest of the country will justify the annexation of the Kongo at the 
present time. 

It proposed in that connection to the government of the Kongo immediately 
to initiate negotiations with the object of embodying their views in a conven- 
tion to be submitted to the Chambers. This convention, following the line of 
that which was concluded on the 9th of January, 1895, will consummate the 
transfer and define the measures necessary to carry the same into effect. 



20 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

The gOYernment of the Kongo has the honor to inform you, Monsieur le 
Afinisti-r tMt it accepts this proposition and is ready, at such time as will 
suk the'convL ence S the BelgiU Government, to negotiate the convention 
whch shall embody the understanding arrived at between the two States. _ 

The Bel-ian Cabinet suggests that the two Governments should select special 
dele-ates to be charged with the preparation of the said convention, and that 
these delegates should be four in number for each party ; these views equally 
meet the approval of the Kongo State. 
Please accept, etc., 

(Signed) Chevalier de Cubveliee. 



No. 15. 

Charge Bliss to the Secretary of State. 

j^o 215 1 American Legation, 

Brussels, August 9.1, 1907. 

Sir: Eeferring to Mr. Wilson's No. 199, of June 12, I have the 
honor to report that on Friday last, the 23d instant, the names were 
made public of the plenipotentiaries whom the Belgian and Kongo- 
lese governments have appointed to draw up a convention to be sub- 
mitted to the Belgian legislative bodies. 

The Kongo delegates are : General de Wahis, late governor of the 
Kongo; Mr. Willemaers, president of the Brussels court of appeal; 
Chevalier de Cuvelier, secretary-general for foreign affairs of the 
Independent State of the Kongo; and Mr. Ernest Solvey, a promi- 
nent Belgian manufacturer and philanthropist. The Belgian dele- 
gates are : Mr. Joostens, Belgian minister to Spain ; Mr. van Maldeg- 
hem, president of the court of cassation; Mr. Beco, governor of the 
Brabant Province; and Mr. van Cutsem, a director in the Belgian 
treasury. 

Mr. Solvey and Mr. Joostens are personal friends of His Majesty 
the King, while the other plenipotentiaries, with the exception of 
General de Wahis and Chevalier de Cuvelier, have little knowledge 
of colonial matters. 

The commission held its first meeting yesterday in the ministry for 
foreign affairs. 

I am, etc., Robert W. Bliss, 

Charge d' Affaires ad interim. 



No. 16. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 241.] American Legation, 

Brussels, Octoher 16, 1907. 

Sir : I have the honor to inclose herewith the copy in the English 
text of the bill for a colonial law offered by the present ministry" and 
which IS now being discussed by the special committee of Parliament 
appointed for that purpose. 

This commission has been meeting in regular session for some time 
past, and each article of the proposed law has been subjected to rigid 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 27 

scrutiny and has provoked long debates, numerous amendments being 
offered, some of which are vakiable additions to the law and others 
of an impractical character. 

As there is no official report of the proceedings it is difficult to 
know the amount of progress that has been made and what changes, 
if any, have been recommended. 

The principal objection of the opposition is to Article XIX, which 
contains the provision for a colonial council of nine members, to be 
nominated by the King. 

I have, etc., Hejsry Lane Wilson. 



No. 17. 

[Inclosure — Translation.] 
Belgian colonial project. 

Article I. All Belerian colonies shall be considered as possessing a legal status 
separate from that of the mother country, and will be regulated by special laws. 

Art. II. All legislative power over Belgian colonial possessions will be held 
by the King, according to the present law and with certain known exceptions. 

Art. III. Such legislation will be exercised by royal decrees. With the ex- 
ception of certain points named in Articles IX, X, and XIX, the decrees will be 
signed by the King on the suggestion of the minister of colonies. No decree is 
to be considered as law until after publication. 

Art. IV. The executive power will belong to the King. It will be made known 
by regulations and by-laws. 

Art. V. No act of the King can take effect until it has been countersigned by 
a minister, who thus will be alone responsible. 

Art. VI. No customs or taxation may be established or rescinded except by 
royal decree. 

Art. VII. The Belgian currency in gold and silver is to be available under the 
same conditions for the Kongo. Any protit resulting from minting extra Bel- 
gian money for the colony will pass to the colonial budget. The King will re- 
serve the right to strike billon coins for special colonial use, which will not be 
current in Belgium. 

Art. VIII. The budget of receipts and expenses will be passed each year by 
the King. But the salary of the colonial minister and the expenses of the cen- 
tral colonial government in Belgium will form a special budget, which will be 
annually submitted to the Chambers, according to article 115 of the constitution. 

Art. IX. The decrees approving loans chargeable to or under the guaranty of 
the colony, and the works on extraordinary supplies, will only be taken on the 
propositions of ministers in council. 

Art. X. All cession or concession, either made freely or for payment, no 
matter the length of time either of domanial possessions or of the enjoyment of 
such, situated in colonial possessions, must have the consent or authorization of 
royal decree. The act which sets forth the permission must contain the stipula- 
tions made in each case by ministers in council. 

Art. XI. Both civil and military justice will be organized by decree. 

Art. XII. The functionaries of judicial law will be appointed and revoked by 
the King. Their revocation can only take place at the demand of the governor- 
general, whch shall have for its basis reasons foreseen by decree, and with the 
advice of the supreme colonial tribune. 

Art. XIII. The King may, for reasons of public safety, suspend in any neigh- 
borhood decided upon all courts and tribunals of civil justice and confide the 
exercise of repressive justice to the military. 

Art. XIV. Justice will be given and executed in the name of the King. Such 
will be justified. The King retains the prerogative to pardon, reduce, or com- 
mute punishments. 

Art. XV. The King may delegate the executive power to the governor-general 
of the colony. He may authorize, when the interest or the safety of the colony 
rquires it, the momentary suspension of decrees, and himself pass regulations to 
be considered as laws. But such regulations having this object cease to be en- 



^g APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

forceable after the delay of a year if they have not been approved by decree 
before that period expires. 

Chapter II. 

Art XVI Each year a report on the administration of the colonial posses- 
sions shall be snbmitted to the chambers in the name of the King. This report 
will contain all the information necessary to explain the political situation, the 
economic, the financial position, and the moral status of these possessions to 
the national representatives. ^x, ^ + -i i 

Art XVII. The colonial budget for the current year, as well as the detailed 
account of the receipts and expenses of the last financial year, will be added as 
schedules to the annual report. 

Chapter III. 

Art. XVIII. A colonial ministry will be instituted. The colonial minister 
will be nominated and revoked by the King, and will form part of the colonial 
council. Articles S6 to 91 of the Belgian constitution will be applicable to him. 

Art. XIX. The colonial council will be composed of nine members, nomi- 
nated by the King. They can only be revoked by a decree of the ministers 
in council. Five of these members must have already exercised administra- 
tive, judicial, or military order in the colonies, or have managed for at least 
eighteen months an industrial or commercial establishment. The other mem- 
bers will be chosen from the superior grades in the army, magistrates of the 
courts of cassation or appeal, members of the council of industry or commerce, 
members or former members of the diplomatic and consular corps, and pro- 
fessors of universities. The length of office in the colonial council will be 
nine years. One member — open to reelection — will retire each year. No mem- 
ber of either House of Parliament may form part of the council. 

Art. XX. The colonial council vpill deliberate on all matters submitted by 
the King. The council will be consulted in all royal decrees excepting in cases 
foreseen by Articles IX, X, XIX. The council will give its advice in the form 
of reports, with reasons. Decrees passed in urgent cases will be submitted to 
the council within ten days of their date, with an indication of the reason for 
urgency. When the project of decree to be signed by the King is against the 
opinion of the colonial council, the decree will be published with an explana- 
tory report by the minister of the colonies. In case of urgency this report 
will be published within twenty days of its receipt of the communication. The 
minister will preside over the seances and will have a casting vote. 

Chapter IV. 

Art. XXI. The King will make treaties concerning colonial possessions. The 
regulations of article 68 of the Belgian constitution concerning treaties will 
apply to the colonies. 

AiiT. XXII. The Belgian minister for foreign affairs will manage the relations 
between Belgium and foreign powers concerning the Kongo. 

Chapter V. 
General regulations. 

Art. XXIII. Judgments passed in civil and commercial matters in Belgium 
are to be carried out in the colonies. Judgments passed by colonial tribunals 
will be legally executable in Belgium. 

Art. XXIV. Whoever, having broken colonial law, has taken refuge in Bel- 
gium will be judged by Belgian law. Whoever, having broken Belgian law, has 
taken refuge in the colony will be handed over to Belgian justice and tried ac- 
cordingly. 

_ Art. XXV. Functionaries and military men authorized to accept engagements 
in the colony will keep their rank and right to advancement in their former 
profession left temporarily. 

Art. XXVI. With the exception of the flag and seal of Belgium, the Kongo 
colony can make use of the present Kongo flag and seal as used 

Art. XX\'II. All decrees, regulations, and other acts now working in the 
colonies retain their torce, except any which the new laws would make void 

Art. XXA III. Any proposal or modification or addition to this present code 
Will, at the request of the Government, be submitted to the colonial council. 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 29 

No. 18. 

The Secretary of State to Ambassador Held. 

Department of State. 
'Washington, November 4, 1907, 

Mt Dear Mr. Keid : I inclose a copy of the English text of the bill 
for a colonial law now under discussion by a special committee of the 
Belgian Parliament." 

It seems to me that the enactment of this law would be a most 
unsatisfactory conclusion of the eifort to redress and prevent for the 
future the outrages which have been committed on natives of the 
Kongo region under the control of the King of Belgium. 
^ You will see that practically the only attempt at any check upon 
the absolute power of the King is under a colonial council, which, 
under t]ie nineteenth article of the proposed law, is to be nominated 
by the King himself. This is mere trifling with the people who have 
been justly dissatisfied with the conduct of affairs in the Kongo. 

Iwish you would talk informally with Sir Edward Grey on this 
subject and ascertain whether, in case this bill becomes a law and the 
effort of Belgium ends there. Great Britain will accept such a result 
as being satisfactory performance of the trust which was commit- 
ted to the International Association of the Kongo under the Berlin 
convention of 1885. I can not believe that he will consider that the 
duty of Great Britain, the performance of which she assumed by 
that convention, will have been discharged by an assent to such a dis- 
posal of the matter. 

You may say to Sir Edward Grey that the United States * * * 
are, however, gradually coming to a frame of mind in which we are 
disposed to consider the further continuance of the conditions which 
have existed in the Kongo as being a violation of the spirit, if not 
the letter, of the Brussels convention of 1890, which, in its second 
article, expressly includes among its objects — 

To diminish intestine wars between tribes by means of arbitration ; to ini- 
tiate ttiem in agricultural labor and in the industrial arts, so as to increase their 
welfare; to raise them to civilization and bring about the extinction of bar- 
barous customs. * * * To give aid and protection to commercial enterprise; 
to watch over their legality by especially controlling contracts for service with 
natives, and to prepare the way for the foundation of permanent centers of 
cultivation and of commercial settlements. 

Faithfully yours, Elihu Koot. 



No. 19. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 249.] American Legation, 

Brussels, November 13, 1907. 
Sir : I have the honor to report that in accordance with the con- 
stitutional provision the Belgian Parliament convened on the second 
Tuesday of November. 

<^ Printed ante, p. 27. 



3Q APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

The deliberation of the Parliament during the present session will 
be directed to a solution of the question of the annexation ot the 
Kongo to Belgium, and this important measure will take- precedence 

^ The^proceedings of Parliament will be observed with interest and 
reported to the department from time to time. 

■ nflVP PLC 

' *' Henry Lane Wilson. 



No. 20. 

Ambassador Reid to the Secretary of State. 

Personal.] American Embassy, 

London^ November 19, 1907. 

My Dear Mr. Root: Your letter of November 4 was received a few 
days ago, and to-dav I took the first opportunity since its receipt for 
talldng unofficially with Sir Edward Grey about the Kongo business. 
After telling him that your letter was confidential I added that per- 
haps the simplest way of discharging my duty was to read it to him, 
and so I read it almost in full. 

He at once said that the views of this country, and his own views, 
coincided quite fully with those which you expressed. It was clear 
that the proposal to which you referred could not be acceptable either 
in the form in which you' sent it or with the various amendments 
which had since been proposed. 

He did not believe, however, that the time had yet come for Eng- 
land to go beyond the expression on this subject recently made by the 
prime minister in his speech at the Mansion House. 

Jp Sfl Tl V ^ fl5 ^ 

Sir Edward felt quite sure, however, that the English people would 
not be content with anything like the disposition of the case proposed 
in the projet de loi referred to. He was extremely glad to learn that 
the United States took an interest in the subject and held similar 
views. He would not fail to communicate with me later if any 
change in the situation should warrant it. * * * 

I think the foregoing gives a fair idea of the spirit and purport of 
a conversation which was prompt, frank, and direct on Sir Edward's 
part and seemed to be without any reserves. 

Yours, sincerely, Whitelaw Eeid. 



No. 21. 

The Gonsul-General at Boma to the Secretary of State. 

American Consulate-General, 

Boma, November 20, 1907. 
Sir : I have the honor to inclose herewith my report upon existing 
conditions in the Kongo. The conclusions I have formed as a result 
of observations made during my recent trip are concurred in by Mr. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 31 

Memminger, who accompanied me, and to whose valuable aid, ren- 
dered in many ways during a somewhat difficult journey, I am very 
glad to acknowledge my indebtedness. 

I have, etc., Jas. A. Smith, 

Consul- General. 



[Inclosure.] 

In the administration of the Kongo Free State the chief question has been, 
and is at the present time, the one of taxation. The fact that the State exacts a 
tax in labor, and the many abuses which have occurred, and still occur, as the 
result of the enforcement of this system of prestation, have given rise to a large 
part of the criticisms which have been directed against it. The ordinance of 
July 1, 1885, declared, in part, that the vacant lands were to be regarded as be- 
longing to the State. The vacant lands were considered as all those not actually 
occupied or under cultivation by the natives; their proprietary rights in and 
over their own country were ignored, and the State, in continuation of this 
policy, has proceeded, under the guise of taxation, to compel the natives to con- 
tribute for its benefit, and that of a number of concessionary companies, the 
natural products of these lands, consisting, for the most part, in rubber, ivory, 
and gum copal. Briefly, the royal decree of June 3, 1906, provides that every 
valid and adult native is subject to an annual tax of from 6 to 24 francs, de- 
pending, as is stated, on the resources of the various regions and the degree of 
development of the natives. Children of 16 years of age are considered as 
adults, and the law is so worded as to include women. The tax is payable 
monthly in either products or labor, and, nominally, the number of hours of 
labor which the native must perform to acquit himself of his tax must not ex- 
ceed forty hours each month, including transport. The law further provides, 
" pour faire naitre chez les indigenes le gout du travail." that they shall receive 
a remuneration at the time of the delivery of the products, or in exchange for 
the number of hours of labor performed, calculated according to the value of the 
products or the average rate of local wage. Such, in substance, is the wording 
of the law, and the main purpose of my trip was to investigate the conditions 
which have arisen out of its application. It may be remarked here that in the 
lower Kongo, where money is in circulation, the tax is, as a rule, paid in cash. 

For administrative purposes the Kongo Free State is divided into districts, 
each of which is administered by a '" commissaire de district," under the direc- 
tion of the governor-general at Boma, who in turn is charged with the execution 
of measures approved by the central government at Brussels. The various dis- 
tricts are divided into zones, and these again into sections and posts, and admin- 
istered respectively by a " chef de zone," " chef de secteur," and " chef de poste." 
The latter official is the agent for the collection of taxes. 

I left Boma, accompanied by Mr. Memminger, on August 1, on the steamship 
Leopoldville, reaching Matadi the same day, a run of four or five hours. Matadi 
is important as being the terminal port of the European steamers and the start- 
ing point of the railroad line to Leopoldville. I remained here one day, securing 
accommodations at the mission of the American Baptist Missionary Union. I 
had an interview during the day with the commissaire of the district, and 
learned from him that he had recently recommended to the governor-general 
that the tax in his district be fixed at 12 francs per year for each male of 14 
years or over, payable in cash, females to be exempt. In certain parts of his 
district, away from the railroad, he had recommended that the tax be fixed at 
one-half the amount, or 6 francs per year. His recommendations had not, at 
the time of my visit, been approved, but I was informed upon my return that 
women also were to be taxed. Laborers working for the State here are paid at 
the rate of 6 francs per month, with rations consisting of dried fish and rice. 
It will be noted that the tax imposed amounts to one-sixth of the average wage, 
and the missionaries with whom I talked considered it excessive, especially for 
those living away from the railroad, where no work was to be had and no 
money was in circulation. Laborers in the employ of the railroad are paid, I 
was informed, from 10 to 15 francs per month, with rations. I questioned the 
missionaries whom I met at Matadi as to the general conditions among the 
natives in the district, and beyond the objection to the amount of tax they had 
no complaint to make. In the lower Kongo, of which the district of Matadi 



32 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

forms a Dart money is in circulation, a condition of free trade exists, and the 
nXes ^ for as my observation goes, are not harshly treated and are appar- 
ent rcon?ened In none of these respects can the same be said of the upper 
S^o a S in the regions I visited. Accompanied by the commissaire I 
iispeSed the prison for blacks. It consisted of a courtyard about 75 feet 
squSe, with a rough stone building on one side providing sleeping accommoda- 
?ons. The beds w^ere wide wooden platforms raised a ">"Plfi °"'%£Tison 
ground Four or five of the inmates sleep together on one of these The pi i son 
STed for men convicted of minor offenses, the penalty for which is not more 
than a year's confinement. They are chained together m pairs, and do poitei- 
age work on the arrival of steamers and trains and general scavenger work in 

*^I left^Matadi on the evening of August 2 for Leopoldville. The journey re- 
aires two days, a stop for the night being made at Thysville. The railroad is 



quuc^ Lvvw "^"^"^^^^ ^^-^^^ ballasted Tor" most°of the distance and is well managed. 



with the exception of the cars being uncomfortably small and far from clean. 
The first-class fare is exorbitantly high, 200 francs being charged for the 
journey of 250 miles, or at the rate of about 16 cents a mile. The second-class 
cars are open, with seats running across, and are occupied, as a rule, entirely 
by blacks. The second-class fare is 25 francs. . ^ ^ .^, 

The importance of Leopoldville arises from its being the terminal of the 
railroad from Matadi and the port of departure for the steamers leaving for 
the upper Kongo, and it is also, with the exception of the region around Stanley 
Falls the end of the free-trade zone. Beyond this point practically the entire 
territory of the Kongo is exploited by the State itself or by concessionary com- 
panies in which the State holds a large and, in many cases, controlling interest 
I remained at Leo until the 21st of August, visiting several of the native vil- 
lages in the vicinity, making a trip fo Brazzaville, on the French side of the 
river, and to the headquarters of the new American Congo Company, a day and 
a half's trip up the river. During my stay I had interviews with the leading 
state officials, several of the local missionaries, natives, and others familiar 
with the situation. 

The State has in its employ at Leopoldville at the present time about 1,200 
native workmen. In addition there is a detachment of about 120 native sol- 
diers. The workmen are employed in loading and discharging cargo from the 
river steamers, building and repair work on the river front and on damaged 
steamers. Together with their wives the native force reaches an aggegate of 
about 2,000 souls. The workmen are impressed into service for a term of five 
years by military conscription for, as the law states, " the execution of works 
of ptiblic utility." The English vice-consul at Stanleyville, in a report to his 
Government, says in regard to this system : 

" * * * But I am not aware of any civilized state in which conscription 
is applied to ' works of public utility.' The abolition of compulsory porterage, 
canoe paddling, and the substitution of paid workmen appears to be a great 
relief. But these ' travailleurs salaries' are the conscripts; they are hunted 
in the forest by soldiers and are brought in bound by the neck, like criminals." 

At Leopoldville these conscript workmen are paid by the State in cash at the 
rate of from 4 to 10 francs per month for their first term of five years. In 
addition, they receive rations, consisting for the most part in chikwangue 
("kwanga"), the native bread made from the manioc root. To provide this 
food the State levies an impost on the natives in the surrounding region and 
forces them to bring it in at intervals of four, eight, or twelve days, depend- 
ing upon the distance from the town. Beyond the clearing of the forest the 
work of planting, digging the roots, soaking, barking and retting, making into 
loaves, and boiling falls entirely upon the women. Even the transport is for 
the most part performed by them or by the children. As a remuneration the 
State pays at the rate of 6 centimes a kilogram in cloth or other merchandise. 
The tax has been fixed in this district at the maximum of 24 francs per year, 
so that at the above rate of 6 centimes fixed by the State each woman (and I 
was informed that only the women are counted in reckoning the amount each 
village must furnish) must supply 400 kilograms of chikwangue per year. The 
commission of inquiry sent out here in 1904 by the King reported as follows 
in reference to this tax : 

" The worst feature of this imposition is its continuity. As the chikwangue 
can be preserved only a few days the native, even by doubling his activity, 
can not at one time discharge his obligations extending over a long period. The 
imposition, even if it does not demand his entire time, loses a part of its real 



APPAIES IN THE KONGO. 33 

character as a tax and besets him, therefore, continually, through the preoc- 
cupation of these approaching deliveries which make the task lose its true 
character and transforms it into incessant compulsory labor." 

And again : 

" * * * It is none the less inadmissible that he should be obliged to 
travel 150 kilometers to bring to the place of delivery a tax which represents 
a value of about one franc and a half. This remark is equally just, even if it 
is granted that the compensation given to the native represents the exact value 
of the article furnished." 

No one who visits Leopoldville and the surrounding region can do otherwise 
than admit the justness of these observations, and yet, beyond the fact that 
the State has arranged that the chikwangue from the zone farthest distant from 
the town can be delivered at a nearer receiving station located on the railroad 
line and from thence transported by rail to Leo, nothing has been done to 
relieve the situation. It is true that a small plantation of some 90 acres, 
entirely inadequate to meet the needs, has been started at N'Dolo, a few miles 
from Leo, which is principally given over to the cultivation of maize and 
sweet potatoes and manioc, but I was reliably informed that a normal crop 
would not suffice to feed the state employees for -a month, so the improvement 
is more apparent than real. In my visits to the surrounding villages I did 
not see a woman who was not busily engaged in making kwanga for the State, 
from which they receive but a trifle more than half its market value at Leo. 
The men are subject to the corvee, or obligatory labor, at any time the State 
requires their services. The condition of their villages, the wretchedness of 
their miserable hovels, the entire absence of any and every thing indicating 
benefits derived from contact with the white man's civilization, or an improve- 
ment in economic condition as a result of an almost constant labor forced upon 
these poor people, could not fail to impress any impartial observer. The com- 
missaire of this district is an intelligent and, I believe, humane man, but his 
efforts to ameliorate the condition of the native can result in but little as long 
as the system under which he is compelled to administer his district is 
adhered to. 

With the testimony of the missionaries and the natives themselves it is not 
difficult to arrive at the conclusion that the law restricting the taxation in 
labor to forty hours per month as applied here is devoid of meaning. The 
evils of the system are further accentuated by the question of transport, de- 
volving almost entirely on the women and children. One sees at Leo long 
caravans in which the women and children, some of the latter not more than 
9 or 10 years of age, and of both sexes, arrive loaded down with heavy bur- 
dens of kwanga as a tribute to an administration which refuses to ration its 
employees and soldiers in cash because it can compel this form of imposition 
at a cost, as I have stated, but little more than half the amount it would be 
obliged to pay these employees if they purchased the same rations in the open 
market. Admitting, as a principle, that a certain tax should be imposed upon 
the natives, the only remedy for the conditions existing among them in this 
region requires the exaction of a reasonable sum yearly in cash and payable 
at a time most convenient to the native. The sum of 24 francs, or its equiva- 
lent, in products at a depreciated valuation and paid for in merchandise upon 
which the State undoubtedly makes a profit, is ridiculously out of proportion 
to the economic condition of the native population in this district. I learned 
at Brazzaville that the natives in the French Kongo, where similar conditions 
preva'il, are taxed at the rate of 5 francs per annum, which is paid in cash. 
"Women are not taxed, and in the remoter sections where money is scarce and 
labor not much in demand the amount is but 3 francs per year. 

In contrast to the conditions prevailing in the surrounding region was the 
arrangement made by the State at Leo for the proper housing of its black 
laborers and soldiers. Situated on a high elevation at the back of the town, 
the houses well built in the native fashion, regularly lined out, and separated 
by wide spaces and broad streets to insure proper sanitary conditions, they 
are a credit to the administration. I also visited the lazaret, at some distance 
from the town, where patients suffering from sleeping sickness are isolated. 
Inclosed within a stockade are thirty or forty wretched houses in which at the 
time, and scattered around the inclosure, were 112 unfortunate blacks in 
various stages of the disease. Filth abounded everywhere, a general air of' 
neglect pervaded the place, and I came away with the question in my mind 
as to what a humane and generous administration would have done to properly 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 3 



3^ AFFAIRS IF THE KONGO. 

ir SyX%Sn S Sre'viSly a sMIl J n.an interested in l.is 

'"'T'^left Leo on August 21 on a small state steamer of 35 tons tHe Ville de 
^rVreL and arrived at Irebu, a military instruction camp at the mouth of 
Se ouS to Lake Tumba, on the 30th. The ^^sence of a s ^ , ^ 

PTPqtpr mrt of the distance was the most noticeable featuie ot the trip up tue 
ffver oiasional gn^ups of palm trees marked the sites of former vilages the 
^habitants of whilh had either fled to the French side or been decimated by 
he ravaSes of sleeping sickness. The State has a ^rS,^L''?uel''f learned 
lished along the river, at which the steamers stop to take on fuel. I learned 
that the min employed as choppers at the posts are paid from 4.50 to 7 francs 
per montlTin cloth or other merchandise, with rations of kwanga brought m as 
a tax from the interior villages. I was informed by a white agent at one ot 
these posts that chickens and goats to supply the white personnel ft the post 
and passing steamers are also contributed by these villages. The latter form 
of imposition would seem to be in violation of the spirit of the decree of June 
3 1906 which declares that the native can not be obliged to furnish such a tax as 
"'sauf le cas de necessite " (except in case of necessity) and upon the authori- 
zation of the governor-general, but, as was remarked by my colleague, the 
British vice-consul at Leo, " the laws are elastic and the case of necessity ever 
present." The white agent, in answer to my inquiry, said his orders to exact 
this tax were only verbal and not official. Our steamer was regularly supphed 
at these posts with kwanga for the crew and goats and chickens for the whites 
on board. The black crew of the steamers are paid 5 to 7 francs per month, 
with rations. At Irebu the State has a military instruction camp. About 800 
recruits are stationed here. The region around is taxed in kwanga and the 
riverine folk in smoked fish to supply food for the garrison. From Irebu I 
went to Ikoko, a mission station of the American Baptist Missionary Union on 
Lake Tumba, where I made arrangements to hire the small mission steamer 
Henry Reed for my trip up river. I found this not only cheaper than traveling 
by the state steamers, but preferable from every point of view. I was very 
anxious to get into the rubber-bearing districts, as I found it impossible to 
secure any accurate idea of the existing situation along the river. 

I left Ikoko on September 4, arriving at Upoto, in the Bangala district, on 
September 16. During the trip up the river I stopped at Bolenge, Coquilhatville, 
Eala, Lulanga, and Nouvelle Anvers. Coquilhatville is the residence of the 
commissaire of the Equator district, Nouvelle Anvers of the Bangala district? 
and Bolenge and Lulanga are mission stations of American and English societies, 
respectively. At Eala are located the botanical gardens of the State. At all 
of these places I inquired particularly as to the condition of the natives, the 
amount of their taxes, etc. Statements as to the latter were confusing and did 
not corrspond even among the state officials. At Bolenge I was informed that 
the tax in dried fish was four bunches per week per man, weighing about a 
pound to the bunch. The State pays at the rate of one mitako (small brass 
rod) per bunch, while the current value is ten to fifteen times the amount. The 
native fishermen complain of the difficulties of supplying the amount demanded 
and of the inadequacy of the remuneration. In high water, when fish are scarce, 
they are obliged to go a distance of 80 miles to the Ubangi River to secure them. 
The region around Coquilhatville supplies kwanga as a tax, and I was informed 
that it was brought in from villages three days' journey from the post. At 
Lulanga similar conditions prevail. In addition to the mission station a state 
post is also located here. The remuneration for the kwanga and fish is only 
one-tenth of its current value, and I learned on the best of authority that the 
soldiers stationed here sold their rations exacted by the State as a tax at a price^ 
ten times in excess of the remuneration allowed the native. The missionaries; 
at Lulanga informed me that formerly the villages here had a population of 
fully 5,000 people, while at present they contained scarcely 1,200, the greater' 
part of the population having fled to the French side to escape the onerous; 
burdens forced upon them by the State. I visited a number of the villages. 
in the vicinity of the mission stations. The same destitute conditions as those. 
I had seen at Leo and other points coming up river were evident, and the state- 
ments but tedious repetitions of the same story of excessive taxation with no 
corresponding benefits derived. At Eala the State has, as stated, a large botan- 
ical garden placed under the able direction of a well-known botanist, who i:^ 



AFFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 35 

ceived us with the utmost courtesy. Experiments are being made here with 
every variety of tropical plant, both foreign and indigenous. Especial attention 
IS bemg given to the various varieties of rubber vines and trees, to ascertain 
their relative value as producers. The State has for some time been engaged in 
establishing rubber plantations in the immediate proximity to its posts the 
young plants being supplied from here. The director assured me that in many 
regions the rubber was practically exhausted, a fact which I had ample oppor- 
tunity of proving later on. 

I had previously decided to make my trip into the interior from Upoto, in 
the Bangala district. This region has not previously been visited by any con- 
sular officer, and beyond the reports of the missionaries but little was known 
by the outside world as to the actual situation. Besides, it is considered one of 
the richest rubber-producing sections in the State. We arrived here on Septem- 
ber 16, and a few days were spent in preparation for the trip, securing carriers 
etc. 

Leaving Upoto on September 20, I arrived at N'gali on the following day, 
Friday, after a march of nine hours through the dense forest. Besides Mr. 
Memminger, I was accompanied by Mr. Dodds, an English missionary at Upoto, 
familiar with this section of the country and with the native Ngombe language. 
An American missionary, Mr. Metzger, who had had charge of the steamer, 
also accompanied me. N'gali is the center of a rubber-producing district. The 
State has a rubber-collecting post here, with an agent and assistant in charge, 
and there was also a small detachment of armed workmen commanded by a 
white officer. Previous to our arrival we were met by a native, who informed us 
that on Sunday the " rubber buying " was to take place at the post, it being the 
regular monthly delivery day. It seemed, therefore, as though our coming was 
well timed. Much to my surprise, however, the chef de poste informed me that 
he would not receive the rubber for several days. After questioning many of the 
natives in the near-by villages, who answered me that Sunday was the regular 
day, I concluded that the agent for some reason did not desire our presence at 
the " market," and I therefore announced to him my intention of remaining 
until it took place. Seeing that I was determined to stay, he finally said he 
would "buy" on Monday. I spent the intervening days in questioning the 
natives in the various villages near the post as to the time required each month 
to collect their quota of rubber and as to the treatment received from the white 
agent. The tax here is fixed at 3 kilograms of rubber per month, and the 
nominal remuneration, 43 centimes per kilogram, paid in merchandise. I was 
told everywhere that the rubber in the surrounding territory was exhausted, 
that they were obliged to go four or five days' journey before finding the vines, 
and that, ordinarily, it took them ten to fifteen days to fill their baskets after 
reaching the place — in other words, twenty to twenty-five days each month 
spent in the forest to fulfill the obligation forced upon them by the State. 
While I was not inclined to be overcredulous in regard to these statements, the 
practical unanimity of the assertions as to the matter, both here and later at 
the villages farther on, convinced me of their truth. On Monday I was present 
at the delivery of the rubber. About 250 to 300 natives came to the post with 
their baskets. I had the day before asked to be allowed to weigh one of them 
filled with rubber, but was informed by the white agent that the scales had been 
sent to a distant village in his district, where rubber was also received. I was 
not able to dispute this, but on Monday morning, when the rubber was brought 
in, strange to say they were ready. The baskets vary in size, but the native is 
supposed to fill it. As to the amount in weight of rubber it contains he has not 
the shadow of an idea. He is only certain that if his basket does not contain the 
quantity demanded punishment will follow. As each man's name was called he 
came forward, hung his basket on the scales, the amount was called out by the 
agent and duly noted in a book by his assistant, and the native received his re- 
muneration. This, if his basket was full, was a cheap machete and two or 
three small squares of salt weighing as many ounces, perhaps ; if not, he was 
promptly seized by one of the armed workmen and marched off to prison and 
forced labor, to complete his tax by cutting up rubber for drying. Although a 
variety of articles were scattered about on the porch where the delivery took 
place, such as pieces of cloth, cheap leather belts, enameled-iron plates, small 
mirrors, cheap spoons, etc., the native apparently had no choice, the agent dictat- 
ing each time the article to be given. The principal aim of each one seemed to 
be to have his rubber $veighed and get out of sight as fast as possible. If his 
rubber was short, he received nothing but a small slip of paper upon which was 
written in a language he could not read or understand the amount brought in. 



35 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

In some cases for a particularly large basket two machetes were given with 
the saTt occasionally a cheap leather belt, but this was se Mom. I stood for a 
time dii'ectly behind the scales, where I could watch closely the weighing and 
noted that the amounts as called out were not correct. Upon my calling the at- 
tention of the assistant to this he informed me that the scales were out of order 
and actually registered 1^ kilograms more than the correct weight Even ad- 
mitting that he told the truth, the natives were being unmercifully cheated as I 
distinctly saw baskets weighing 6* and 7 kilograms called out as 4 and 5. Many 
times baskets over 5 were called as 3. I remained a couple of hours watching 
this illuminating spectacle, during which time twenty or twenty-five men had al- 
ready been marched away to prison for being short. One man who had obtained 
his full quota was seized because the quality was not acceptable to the white 
agent The natives claimed that they were obliged to accept remuneration m 
machetes or salt, that when they demanded cloth or other articles they were 
-iven a slip of paper showing they had brought in their full quota, and the follow- 
ing month, if they also delivered their full tax, they were given the article de- 
sired. I did not see anyone flogged for being short, although such is said to be 
a common practice. Two men were brought to me in one of the villages who 
claimed they had been clubbed by the white assistant at the post for failure to 
furnish their full tax. One of these men was evidently in bad condition and un- 
able to stand upright. I had no means for proving these statements beyond the 
testimony of a number of other natives of the village, and they were denied by 
the chef de poste. It was reported to me by the natives that 11 men who had 
been imprisoned at the post for failure to bring in their tax had, in March last, 
escaped, been followed into the forest by the armed workmen, and clubbed to 
death. This matter had been reported by the missionaries at Upoto, and ;-n in- 
vestigation had been made by the procureur d'fitat (state's attorney) a few days 
previous to my arrival at N'gali. The chef de poste, in reply to my questions 
regarding the matter, said that he had been at Nouvelle Anvers at the time, but 
had heard of only seven men, four of whom had died a natural death. I saw 
the procureur at Dobo a couple of weeks later and asked him what the result 
of his investigation had been. His reply was that he had ascertained that 
three escaping prisoners had been caught and clubbed and " afterwards died." 
I was not particularly interested in the actual number — in fact, this was not im- 
portant, the main point being to know if similar acts were possible. After the 
statement of the procureur there can be no question as to the fact that they are. 
The prison house on the post contained two rooms, each about 12 feet square, 
with dirt floors and no windows, and two small, dark closets, 7 by 3, the latter 
for women who are employed on the post and who, as I was informed by the 
agent, had been guilty of insubordination, they being under military discipline as 
well as the armed workmen. At the rate the men were being sent to forced 
labor when I left, the two rooms would have had a hundred occupants by night. 
Without light or ventilation of any sort, their situation may be imagined. 

A five and one-half hours' walk from N'gali brought usJ;o Mopolanga, where 
the State has a travelers' rest house. There are a number of native villages 
here, and we listened to the same complaints as regards the rubber tax as at 
N'gali. There was no white agent here, the natives carrying the monthly con- 
tributions to Bayenge, a state post farther on, where we arrived late the fol- 
lowing afternoon, having been delayed by a severe storm. The State has had 
some difiiculty with the natives here, and the post is surrounded by a high 
stockade. Mr. Dodds informed me, however, that matters had improved since 
his visit to the post in May last. About 700 men are on the tax rolls as rubber 
gatherers, and the agent informed me that it was rare they did not bring in 
their full quota. If not, imprisonment and forced labor was the penalty. The 
tax is the same as at N'gali, 3 kilograms per month. The natives are remuner- 
ated here, as a rule, in " mitakos," viz, small brass rods about 8 or 9 inches 
long, and with a nominal valuation here of ten to the franc (10 centimes each). 
The gauge and length, as well as the value, of these rods varies in different parts 
of the Kongo, and I found, in buying wood for the steamer above Coquilhatville, 
that the rods I had brought from Ikoko had no exchange value, although below 
they were accepted at twenty to the franc. The agent at Bayenge has a small 

magasm," with a variety of merchandise similar to that at N'gali, and accepts 
from the natives these rods in payment for such articles as they desire at 
valuations, however, fixed by the State and in most cases excessive. About 50 
native workmen, 2.5 of whom were armed with guns, are employed on the post 
and in clearing the forest near by for planting rubber trees." A number of 
women, wives of the workmen, are also employed. They receive no remunera- 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 37 

tion outside the daily rations of kwanga. The whole force is under military 
discipline, and is fed on rations of kwanga supplied by the women of the vil- 
lages in the surrounding country as a tax. The workmen are paid from 3 to 5 
francs per month, with rations. 

We were delayed several days at Bayenge. Our intention was to proceed to 
the state post at Yambata, eight or nine hours' march distant, but we were 
informed by the chef de poste that the natives in that region, a numerous people 
belonging to the Budja tribe, were on the eve of revolt, and that it would be 
unsafe for us to go unless accompanied by an armed escort. A state officer in 
this region never ventures outside his post unless accompanied by armed men. 
This was not, however, a part of our programme, as we wished to be free to travel 
as we pleased, and, in particular, to prove that it was possible for a white man 
who was not connected with the State to travel without such escort. We there- 
upon decided to go on unaccompanied, but some of our carriers, becoming 
frightened, deserted, and the rest refused to go. A courier arriving from Yam- 
bata with the report that the road was far from safe and offering to send a 
detachment of soldiers to meet us halfway, finally decided us to accept, and we 
left Bayenge with an armed escort, were met by a company of 30 soldiers com- 
manded by a white officer, and reached the post at Yambata without incident. 

The region around the post at Yambata is rather densely populated and is 
inhabited by a race of natives known as Budjas. These people have never 
been brought entirely under subjection by the State, and I was informed by 
one of the officials at the post that indications pointed to a revolt at no distant 
day. A force of about 80 soldiers belonging to the regular army is stationed at 
the post. The tax rolls showed 1,500 men subject to the impost in rubber, 
which is 3 kilograms per month per man. Remuneration is 43 centimes per 
kilogram, paid in machetes. The women of the villages are taxed in kwanga 
to supply the personnel at the post.. The day after our arrival I expressed a 
wish to visit some of the villages, and we started out, accompanied by the 
chef de secteur and a small force of soldiers. Arriving at the first village we 
found that the entire population — men, women, and children — had taken to the 
bush. Not a living soul was to be found. Upon looking into their huts I 
found the embers of their fires still aglow, showing that they had been gone 
but a few minutes, evidently fleeing at the news of our approach. The incident 
was an eloquent commentary upon the result of long years of cruel oppression 
forced upon the people by a government founded ostensibly for humanitarian 
and civilizing purposes. We passed on, and the same thing occurred in several 
of the villages until finally we met a native who had just emerged from the 
forest and was evidently unaware of our coming. He was sent in advance by 
the chef de secteur to tell the people that we had only come to " see." Their 
fears thus allayed, we found in the villages farther on that the people had re- 
mained. Here, as at all the villages I had visited since leaving Upoto, there 
is no visible sign that the people possess anything at all beyond their squalid 
and filthy hovels and a small patch of ground near by planted with manioc for 
the common use and to furnish kwanga for the post — occasionally a few fowls 
or goats. The women are entirely naked and the men wear simply a loin 
cloth, made usually of the thin bark of some tree and rendered pliable by 
pounding. 

At Yambata the opportunity for which I had been seeking — namely, to prove 
by a practical test the assertions of the natives as to the time necessary to 
gather 3 kilograms of rubber — presented itself. It was claimed by all the state 
agents whom I had questioned upon the subject that the tax was not excessive, 
it being easily possible to gather the amount of the impost within the forty 
hours monthly prescribed by the law as the maximum of time the native must 
labor to fulfill his obligations to the State. It was contended that the native 
idled his time away in the forest in the search of game; that, in substance, he 
did not apply himself to his task. The chef de secteur at Yambata was ap- 
parently so certain of this that I requested permission to take a number of 
natives into the forest, set them at work gathering rubber for a given time, 
and thus prove to my own satisfaction whether their complaints were or were 
not reasonable and just. The chef de secteur willingly consented, apparently 
confident, from the State's standpoint, of the successful result. Accordingly 
five natives were chosen from one of the villages and placed in charge of one 
of the state capitas. It was arranged that these five men should work for four 
hours each, or a total of twenty hours' work, in which time, to correspond to 
the tax imposed and the maximum of forty hours, they were supposed to pro- 
duce 1^ kilograms (1,500 grams) of rubber. The place selected for carrying 



gg APFAIES m THE KONGO. 

mnt this PXDeriment was at one hour's march through the forest from the post, 
«fd wfschosen'^S the chef de secteur as beiug especially rich in rubber vines 
Sp niu als?wei-e of his own choosing. I had nothing to do with this part 
f ?t Ar?Hin<ron tbe spot two of the men were put at work under the sur- 
fei Let of Mt^ Memminger aM Mr. Dodds, the other three under the chef de 
Steur and myself. All the men had been promised an .adequate remunera- 
tion and exemption from their taxes for the following month by the chef de 
Seui as an fncentive, and certainly not a slight one, to do their best. I can 
testify to the f?ct that these men did not lose a minute from the time we com- 
mSSl work until the expiration of the four hours. The vmes were numerous 
?nd but mtle time was taken up in the search for another when one had been 
Shausted The rubber was delivered to me and carefully weighed upon my 
return to the post, with the following result: ^^^^^ 

Total weight _^ 

2 men gathered each 200 grams, or 400 

The other 3 ^°" 

An analysis of the result works out as follows : 

COLLECTIVELY. 

Grams. 

20 hours' labor should have produced 1, 500 

20 hours' labor actually produced 650 

Or 43 per cent of the tax imposed. To gather the quantity required, these men 
would have been obliged to work an average of ninety-three hours each per 
month, or eleven days five hours at eight hours per day, one hundred and forty 
days each year. 

INDIVIDUALITY. 

Grams. 

4 hours' labor should have produced 300 

2 men actually produced in this time, each 200 

Or 66§ per cent of the tax imposed. To gather the quantity required, these men 
would be obliged to work an average of sixty hours each per month, or seven 
and one-half days, ninety days each year. 

AGAIN. 

Grams. 

4 hours' labor should have produced 300 

3 men actually produced in this time an average of only 83J 

Or about 28 per cent of tax. To gather the quantity required, these men would 
be obliged to work an average of one hundred and forty-four hours each month, 
or eighteen days, two hundred and sixteen days each year. 

In considering the above, it must further be borne in mind that the time 
necessarily occupied in reaching the locality and returning is not calculated 
This would, of course, relatively reduce the amount gathered within the given 
time and increase the average time necessary to produce the quota demanded 
by the state. It must also be remembered that the element of chance enters 
largely into the question. The two men who secured 200 grams each were 
fortunate in finding large vines immediately after entering the forest; the 
other three were not, and although they worked, fully as hard only succeeded 
in securing 83J grams each. If, to be perfectly fair, we accept the average time 
employed by the five men as a basis and add thereto eight days each month for 
the time necessary to reach the place and return (eight days is not excessive 
as an average of the time thus employed), we find that these men must labor 
nineteen days and five hours each month, or practically two hundred and 
thirty-six days each year. During the month, if they produce 8 kilograms of 
rubber it is worth, according to the latest market value at Antwerp, 12.50 
francs per kilogram, or 37.50 francs. They receive for this a machete, upon which 
the stale places a valuation of 1.10 francs, and a small handful of salt. I pur- 
chased at Leopoldville from an English trader two of the same machetes for 50 
centimes each. Is it to be wondered at, therefore, that these people possess noth- 
ing ; that they stand either in abject fear of the state, which forces upon them these 



AfFAIKS IN THE KOiSTGO. 39 

burdens and gives them nothing m return, or that they sometimes rise in 
open rebellion against a condition of things from which they see no hope of 
release? Nor are the conditions in the region through which I passed excep- 
tional. It is, as I have already stated, said to be unusually rich in rubber. I 
learn upon the authority of my colleague, the English vice-consul at Leopold- 
ville, who has just returned from a tour of investigation in the Lake Leopold 
district, that the natives in that section, a mild and submissive people, travel 
150 miles from their villages to find the rubber ; that the supply is being rapidly 
exhausted, and it is only with increasing difficulty that they can supply their 
monthly contribution, which is fixed at 1,200 grams. His report was con- 
firmed by identical statements by a missionary at Bolobo, who has also just 
been through the same region and who I saw on my return down river. 

Of atrocities or mutilations I did not see any, nor did I expect to. In this 
respect, undoubtedly, some improvement has taken place. The exposure of the 
evils of the sentry system, in which armed native sentries were placed in the 
villages to force the people to bring in their impositions at the point of a gun, 
has compelled the State to abandon it. It is replaced by the so-called " mes- 
sager," or capita, usually a trustworthy native who acts as intermediary be- 
tween the white ofiicer at the post and the chief of the village. He exercises 
a general supervision over the rubber gatherers in the village, sees that they 
leave for the forest on a certain day each month to collect their impost, and 
reports to his employer any disaffection or other matters of importance oc- 
curring. He delivers delinquent taxpayers to the white man at the post, and I 
saw at Yambata two natives who had failed to appear with their rubber on de- 
livery day brought in bound together by the neck with ropes. The destitute 
condition of the natives and the absence of all signs of improvement in the 
country through which I had passed is but too apparent. The roads are usually 
but native paths cut through the forest; the bridges, where there were any, 
made of rough sticks and usually in a rotten and decaying condition. For 
hours each day we were on the march we waded through water and mud above 
our knees. It costs money to build roads. The time of the native is more 
valuable as a rubber collector than as a builder of highways. Beyond the two 
"colonies scolaires " (educational colonies), one at Boma and the other at 
Nouvelle Anvers, the inmates of which are children brought under the tutelage 
of the State through the operations of the law regarding orphans and aban- 
doned children, and who, after an elementary instruction, are drafted into the 
army as subordinate officers or assigned as clerks in the administrative bureaus, 
the religious and educational development of the native is left entirely in the 
hands of the missionaries. One looks in vain for a school or other industrial or 
agricultural institution where the rising generation might receive such instruc- 
tion as would tend to raise it from its present savage state. The State points 
with pride to the fact that it has suppressed the former Arab slave trade, and 
yet I am informed that the native races formerly under Arab influence are the 
most advanced in civilization of any throughout the entire Kongo territory. 
Every state officer with whom I talked admitted that cannibalism had not been 
entirely wiped out, although it is undoubtedly true that the State has taken 
energetic measures to suppress it and punishes severely those found guilty of 
the practice. The State claims that the native will not work voluntarily ; that 
he must be forced to do so. The assertion is only partially true. Admitting 
that the problem is a somewhat difficult one — and it has been made more so, I 
believe, by the treatment given the native — it is at the same time legitimate to 
ask if he can be expected to give the greater part of his time to the service of 
the State, from which he receives no real benefit. The phrase in the law al- 
ready alluded to, referring to the remuneration rendered " pour faire naitre chez 
les indigenes le goflt du travail," is but the baldest hypocrisy. I have been as- 
sured over and over again by people with long experience in the Kongo that if 
the native is properly paid, if he sees something he wants, he will work will- 
ingly and well to acquire it. My colleague at Leopoldville has told me that on 
his recent trip he was literally besieged by applications for employment as car- 
riers by the natives in the region through which he passed. They came from 
long distances seeking work because the reports had gone abroad of his pres- 
ence and that he paid well for services rendered. 

If we admit that a tax in labor is justifiable, the law restricting such to forty 
hours per month might appear reasonable, but in practice it is not adhered to, 
nor in my opinion, is it possible in most instances to do so. It is obviously ridicu- 
lous to assume that a kilogram of fish represents either ten or one hundred 



40 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

hours' labor. It may be less than one or more than the other, depending upon 
conditions. The same holds true as regards the rubber imposition, where, as has 
been sho^vn, chance enters so largely into the question. Furthermore, the terms 
of the law regarding taxation providing a monetary basis will not bear careful 
analysis without revealing their fallacy, because the native, as a rule, has no 
money and the price of the products assessed to represent such basis is arbi- 
trarily fixed bv the State, and at a figure greatly inferior to their real value 
Under such a system, therefore, it makes no difference whether the tax is placed 
at 1 or 100 francs, it being possible for the State to fix the value of the product 
at 1 centime or 1 franc per kilogram and compel the native to furnish 100 kilo- 
grams in either case. 

The above conclusions, which I have reached as the result of my observations, 
are I believe logical and just. That the obligations of the Kongo Government 
toward the natives, as provided for in the Berlin act, " to care for the improve- 
ment of the conditions of their moral and material well-being " are being openly 
violated there is not the shadow of a doubt. The present conditions are those 
existing under the operations of the so-called reform decrees, promulgated as a 
result of the report of the King's commission of inquiry of 1904. If they are an 
improvement over former conditions it is natural to ask what those former con- 
ditions must have been. The remark of a state official, made in my presence, 
" My business is rubber," tersely expresses the attitude of the entire administra- 
tion toward the native. The latter, so long as the present system is allowed to 
continue, can expect nothing from an administration whose desire for gain 
overshadows everything else and causes it to forget the obligations it has 
assumed toward him. Briefly, the tendency of this system is to brutalize rather 
than civilize — to force the native into such a condition of poverty and degrada- 
tion that his future is a hopeless one, and to keep him there. 

I find it impossible to reconcile the clauses in the Berlin act, by which the 
granting of a monopoly or favor of any kind in matters of trade was prohibited 
and free trade proclaimed in the Kongo basin, with the commercial conditions 
existing under the present regime. In excluding the native from any pro- 
prietary right in the only commodities he possessed which would serve as a 
trade loedium — that is, the products of the soil — and in claiming for itself and 
granting to a few concessionary companies in which it holds an interest exclusive 
ownership of these products, the administration, in its commercial capacity, has 
effectively shut the door to free trade and created a vast monopoly in all articles 
the freedom of buying and selling, which alone could form a proper basis for 
legitimate trade transactions between the native and independent purchasers. 
Competition, by which alone can a healthy condition of trade be maintained, 
has been entirely eliminated. The Government is but one tremendous com- 
mercial organization; its administrative machinery is worked to bar out all 
outside trade and to absolutely control for its own benefit and the concessionary 
companies the natural resources of the country. Its operations as a commercial 
company are subject to no parliamentary control; its profits are unknown to 
anyone except the central administration at Brussels. Business organizations 
are not often guided by philanthropic motives in the conduct of their affairs. 
The policy of the administration, therefore, is to extract the riches of the 
country at the lowest possible cost, and with the result that the profits accruing 
therefrom go to swell the dividends of the Europeans interested, and neither the 
country nor its inhabitants receive any corresponding benefit. The conditions 
in the regions which have come under my observation all go to prove this. 

I left Yambata on October 2, arrived at Dobo, on the river, the following day, 
reached Upoto on the 5th, and left there for Leo on the 8th, arriving the 17th. 
Mr. Memminger returned to Boma the following day. It was my intention to 
prolong my journey for another month or six weeks by making a trip alone 
into the Kasai district, but I found I could not leave Leo for another two weeks. 
and would require a much longer time to properly investigate conditions in that 
region. Leaving Leo on the 24th, I spent four days at the A. B. M. U. mission 
at Nsona Mbata, between Leo and Thysville. where I had been requested to 
investigate some matters concerning the treatment of orphans and abandoned 
children. The subject will be reported on at some later date, when I have had 
more opportunity to study the question. I arrived at Boma the evening of 
October 30. ^ 

Jas. a. Smith, 

•D^>, ,, - „„ „-.„ Consul-General. 

Boma, November 20, 1907. 



AFFAIRS IF THE KONGO. 41 

No. 22. 

The Oonsul-Gerieral at Boma to the Secretary of State. 

American Consulate-General, 

Boma, November 23, 1907. 
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a report by Vice-Consul- 
General Memminger in reference to conditions in the Kongo. The 
report is forwarded without comment other than to say that the 
opinions expressed therein are in conformity with my own, and based 
upon personal observation during our recent trip to the upper Kongo. 
I have, etc., 

Jas. a. Smith, 
G onsul-GeTieral. 



[Inclosure.] 

Having been authorized to accompany you on a trip to tlie upper Kongo, and 
thus having had the opportunity to observe conditions in a large part of the 
Kongo Free State, I have the honor to say that I concur in the conclusions 
reached by you in your report to the Department of State on " Conditions in the 
Kongo Free State." 

My observations convinced me that the system of taxation in labor in the 
Kongo Free State is not imposed in an equitable manner, and through the 
exercise of compulsion i-esults in grave abuses. I am convinced, moreover, from 
the conditions in the part of the country which we visited, that the natives of 
the Kongo are not deriving from the Government which they are forced to sup- 
port any measure of the benefits to which they are entitled. In return for the 
imposts of labor and products levied upon them they receive, so far as I have 
been able to observe, in no sense a commensurate remuneration, nor does the 
payment of this tax gain for tliem compensating advantages, or serve to better 
the economic condition of the people. One is forced to conclude that the Gov- 
ernment is not administered in the interest of the native population. The 
system in' effect rather operates to their oppression. 

In some localities the State has constructed public works, and throughout 
the country has improved communications, thereby rendering the country more 
habitable for white men, of whom by far the largest percentage are state 
officers. But in the benefits of these improvements, necessary for carrying on 
the state's business as a commercial organization, the natives do not share to 
an appreciable extent. Where state posts are established, in fact, an addi- 
tional burden is imposed upon them. They are compelled to supply the state 
agents and employees with prestations of food. Invariably, near the state 
posts, I found the neighboring villages to be in a destitute condition. The 
material well-being of the native population seemed in no wise improved by 
the proximity of the people to the government stations. At Leopoldville, the 
principal commercial town of the upper Kongo, I saw in the surrounding coun- 
try only a few small villages, the inhabitants of which seemed to be in a 
desperately poor condition. I was informed that this region previous to state 
occupancy was thickly populated by a people not unfriendly to the white man 
and who, according to the native standard, were in a highly prosperous 
condition. 

I saw no evidence of effort on the part of the State to assist the population 
in the improvement of native industries by practical education, or by the 
application of improved methods and implements — this in spite of the fact 
that by development of the native along these lines it is admitted his 
capacity for working the resources of the country from which the Government 
derives its revenue would be increased; at the same time that there would be 
no relative increase of the amount of labor exacted as a tax. Instead, it would 
diminish the burden. 

In general, the condition of the people in the upper Kongo seemed unhappy 
and led to the conclusion that the system of goveriJttnent under which the natives 



42 ATFAIBS IN THE KONGO. 

must live does not promote their welfare. In its operation the system seems to 
r one in whkh considerations of humanity and benevolence are least 
important. Lucien Memmingek, 

Yice-Consul-Qeneral. 
BoMA, 'November 23, 1907. 



No. 23. 
Ambassador Reid to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

No. 216.1 American Embassy, 

London^ December 5, 1907. 
Referring to your confidential instructions concerning the Kongo, 
of November 4, 1907, and to my statement of a conversation with Sir 
Edward Grey on the subject November J-9, I have to report that Sir 
Edward Grey to-day showed me a copy of an instruction he is just 
sending to Sir A. Hardinge, the British minister in Belgium. It 
repeated the view that a public utterance at the present moment as to 
the terms on which the annexation of the Kongo State by Belgium 
would be recognized might prevent a discussion of this question in 
the Belgian Parliament on its merits. This objection, however, does 
not, in his opinion, apply to a private representation. It approves 
the suggestion by Sir A. Hardinge that he and his American col- 
league, Mr. Wilson, might advantageously give a private hint as to 
the attitude which our two Governments might in certain contin- 
gencies be compelled to adopt, and concludes as follows : 

I request, therefore, that you .will concert with Mr. Wilson with a view to 
acting as you suggest on a favorable opportunity. You might point out that 
great anxiety has been shown in both countries to see the administration of the 
Kongo State complying with the spirit of the Berlin act and effecting serious 
and immediate reforms; that the two Governments, notwithstanding the pres- 
sure brought to bear upon them at home, have refrained hitherto from taking 
any steps which might be embarrassing to the Belgian Government in a critical 
period of transition, but that they attach the greatest possible importance to 
the question. 

I said to Sir Edward Grey that you should be advised at once of 
this letter, and that, if you approved its policy, you would doubtless 
instruct Mr. Wilson to inform Sir A. Hardinge and act in concert. 

Eeid. 



No. 24. 

The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. 

[Tfelegram.] 

DEPARTlVrENT OF StATE, 

Washington^ Decemher 6, 1907. 
Ambassador Eeid telegraphs substance of a conversation he has had 
with British minister for foreign affairs in which he indicated the 
disposition of the British Government to make some informal rep- 



AI'FAIES IN a?HE KONGO. 4g 

resentations regarding Kongo affairs and intimated that British 
minister to Belgium might concert with you on the subject. 

You will be instructed later— probabl;^ Monday— as to your course 
and if in the meantime the British minister should approach you 
you will advise the department of such suggestions as he may make. 

Bacon. 



No. 25. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Legation, 
Brussels, December 7, 1907. 
******* 
The British minister informed me on the 4th that his Government, 
in referring to conversation with our ambassador to Great Britain, 
instructed him that their present attitude was one of expectancy and 
that they deemed the time inopportune for any concerted action. The 
treaty of annexation has just been signed by the respective plenipo- 
tentiaries and has passed into legislative discussion, with fair pros- 
pects of a satisfactory issue. Will await further instructions before 
acting. 

Wilson. 



No. 26. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 261.] American Legation, 

Brussels, December 7, 1907. 

Sir: I have the honor to report that the treaty signed on Novem- 
ber 28 by the representatives of the Government of Belgium and, on 
the other hand, by the representatives of the Independent State of 
the Kongo was on December 3 laid before the Belgian House of 
Representatives, and was immediately referred by it to the special 
committee of seventeen, with instructions to examine the same in 
connection with the colonial law which this committee is now fram- 
ing for submission to Parliament. 

I inclose herewith three copies of a pamphlet containing the 
" Expose des Motifs " of the ministry, and the treaty with the project 
of law for its adoption, and the provisional arrangement. 

I also inclose an English translation of the three latter documents, 
and am outlining in what follows the substance of the " Expose des 
Motifs." 

The minister opens his " Expose des Motifs " by reference to the 
previous movements for the annexation of the Kongo to Belgium; 
gives the history in detail of the various projects for annexation, 
and the apparently insurmountable difficulties which had prevented 
a solution of the problem, placed before a democratic State like 



44 AFPAIES IN THE KONGO. 

Belgium, of exercising a beneficent sovereignty over vast, unde- 
veloped territories and millions of uncivilized people, m a manner 
which would meet the approval of international and domestic 

opinion. i j. i - 1 

The minister then goes on to say that however truthtul these 
views may have been in the past, they are not applicable to the 
present situation ; that Belgium is now fully equal to the task of 
governing the Kongo in such manner as will redound to the welfare 
of the native ]3opulation, the development of the country, the pros- 
perity of Belgium, and the approval of international opinion. 

He then recalls and quotes at length from the report of the com- 
mission of inquiry appointed by the King in 1905 to investigate 
the conditions in the Kongo. 

This report has been made the subject of former dispatches from 
this legation, and is doubtless in the possession of the department. 

The minister states that the Government of the Kongo acted 
promj)tly upon the recommendations of the commission of inquiry, 
and gives specific instances of the reforms which had been carried out. 

Attention is then called to the very interesting and remarkable 
report of the special representatives of Belgium who were designated 
to study all questions relating to the transfer of the Kongo sover- 
eignty to Belgium. 

This report deals with the economic, financial, and international 
situation, and also with the question of Crown Domain, or, as it is 
called, Foundations. 

In the study made of the economic situation an examination is 
made of its real and personal assets. It finds that 170,000,000 francs 
($34,000,000) have been invested in the country, and that the general 
trade in 1906 amounted to 106,483,058 francs ($21,290,000), of which 
67,781,858 francs ($13,500,000) were exports and 29,700,700 francs 
($5,900,000) were imports. Special trade amounted to 79,755,000 
francs ($15,900,000), of which 58,278,000 francs ($11,600,000) were 
exports and 21,477,000 francs ($4,300,000) were imports. 

The report then gives a summary of the organization and working 
of railway companies and of the proprietary corporations (Cam- 
pagiiie Bruxelloise pour le Commerce du Haut Kongo, Compagnie 
du Katanga, Societe d'Agriculture et de Plantations au Congo, 
Compagnie Anversoise de Plantations du Lubefu, and American 
Congo Company) and the concessionary societies (Compagnie du 
Kasai, Compagnie du Katanga, Abir, Societe Anversoise, Societe 
d'Agriculture. et de Plantations, Comptoir Commercial Congolais, 
Compagnie du Haut Congo, Societe Equatoriale Congolaise, Ameri- 
can Congo Company, Societe Forestiere et Miniere, Union Miniere du 
Haut Katanga, the Great Lakes Railway, the Railway from the 
Lower Congo to the Katanga, the Whitely Concession, and the 
Forkel Concession). 

This part of the report is supposed to be a complete exposition of 
the workings of the economic organization. 

Another part of the report deals with the international questions 
of boundaries and neutrality and the modifications of the fiscal sys- 
tem growing out of various treaties. 

The assets of the Kongo State are found to be 120,000 000 francs 
($24,000,000) and its liabilities 114,000,000 francs ($22,800,000). 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 45 

The annual revenue resulting from proprietory concessions, bonds, 
stocks, etc., exceeds the liabilities, interest, and redemption charges bv 
about 500,000 francs ($100,000). ^ 

The report sets forth that the Crown Domain, in common with the 
other territories subject to the sovereignty of the Independent State 
and to its laws, should, after annexation, be made subject to the 
sovereignty of Belgium and its laws. 

The arrangements made in December, 1906, between the Kongo 
State and the Crown Domain will insure to Belgium — in the event of 
annexation— property valued at 29,000,000 francs ($5,800,000), which, 
however, will carry with it the obligation of providing for the erec- 
tion of hospitals, schools, and churches, and carrying on hygienic 
and philanthropic works. 

The treaty is accompanied by numerous annexes containing an 
inventory of the assets, liabilities, and engagements of the Kongo 
State. These have not yet been printed, as time is required for their 
examination and verification. They will eventually be transmitted 
to the dejDartment. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure.] 
Translation of treaty. 

The sovereign king of the Kongo having made Imown, by his letter of 
August- 5, 1889, to the minister of finance of Belgium that if it were satisfac- 
tory to Belgium to conclude before the time fixed more close ties with his 
possessions in the Kongo, His Majesty would not hesitate to place them at its 
disposal; and the two high contracting parties being found in agreement. 

The following treaty has been concluded between the Sta ':e of Belgium, repre- 
sented by Mr. Julian Davignon, minister for foreign affairs; Mr. Jules de 
Trooz, minister of interior; Mr. Jules Renliin, minister of justice; Mr. Julien 
Liebaert, minister of finance; Baron Descamps, minister of sciences and art; 
Mr. Armand Hubert, minister of industry and labor; Mr. Auguste Delbelie, 
minister of public worljs; Mr. George Helleputte, minister of railways, posts, 
and telegraphs, temporarily charged with the portfolio of agriculture; and 
Lieutenaut-General Hollebaut, minister of war, acting under reserve of legis- 
lative approval. 

And the Independent State of the Kongo, represented by Chevalier de Cuve- 
lier, secretary-general of the department for foreign affairs ; Mr. Hubert 
Droogmans, scretary-geneal of the depatment of finance; and Mr. Charles 
Liebrechts, secretary-general of the department of interior. 

Article I. 

His Majesty King Leopold II, sovereign of the Independent State, hereby 
cedes to Belgium the sovereignty of the territories composing the Independent 
Kongo State, together with all the rights and obligations appertaining thereto. 
The Belgian State hereby accepts this cession, takes over and accepts the obli- 
gations of the Independent State as set forth in Schedule A, and undertakes to 
respect the existing interests in the Kongo, together with the legally acquired 
rights of third parties, native and nonnative. 

Article II. 

The cession comprises all real and personal estate of the Independent Kongo 
State, and particularly : 

1. The properties and all the lands belonging to its public and private 
domain, with reservation of the dispositions and obligations indicated in Sched- 
ule A of the present convention. 



46 AFPAIES IN THE KONGO. 

2. All the shares and bonds and founder or interest shares mentioned In 

^*^3^All^he buildings, constructions, installations, plantations, and appropria- 
tions whatsoeX eltkblished or acquired in Africa and in Belgium by the 
GoverSenfof the Independent Kongo State, personal goods of all kinds, and 
the catSe it possesses there, together with its pontoons and boats with their 
fittings and its military material, as described in Schedule B, Sections II 

^^4 The forests, rubber, and other African products which are the property 
of the Independent Kongo State, as well as the provisions and other merchan- 
dise belonging to it, as described in Schedule B (I and III). 

Article III. 

On the other hand, the cession includes all the liabilities and all the finan- 
cial engagements of the Independent State, as set out in Schedule C. 

Article IV. 

The date upon which Belgium will begin to exercise her right of sovereignty 
over the territories mentioned in the first article will be determined by royal 
decree. The revenue obtained and the expenses incurred by the Independent 
State from January 1, 1908, will be taken over by Belgium. 

In witness whereof the plenipotentiaries have signed the present agreement 
and have affixed thereto their seals. 

Done in duplicate at Brussels this 2Sth day of November, 1907. 

[Signed by all the ministers of Belgium and the secretaries-general of the 
Independent State of the Kongo.] 



No. 27. 



The Secretary of State to Minister 'Wilson. 

[Telegram.] 

Department of State, 
'Washington^ December 16, 1907. 
The telegram from Ambassador Eeid on which cabled instructions 
were based was as follows: 

[Here follows text of telegram from London, December 5, 1907.] 
Our attitude and sentiment rest on the broad general purpose to 
elevate and benefit the native Africans as declared in the Berlin act. 
to which we are, however, not a party, and emphatically reaffirmed in 
the Brussels act of 1890, applicable to all dominion and control of 
civilized nations in Central Africa, to which we are a party. Our 
voice and sympathy are in favor of the full accomplishment of those 
declared purposes, and, while we are not directly interested in the 
administrative and financial details of the government of any one of 
the several districts of Central Africa embraced in the compact of 
1890, we are free, and indeed morally constrained, to express our trust 
and hope that every successive step taken by the active signatories 
will inure to the well-being of the native races and execute the trans- 
cendent obligations of the Brussels act, in all its humanitarian pre- 
scription, especially as to article 2. In these regards the interests of 
all the signatories are identical. You will impress these considera- 
tions on your British colleague and in your discretion to any other of 
your colleagues who may consult you on the subject. 

Root. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 47 

No. 28. 
Consul- General Smith to the Assistant Secretary of State. 

No. 13.] American Consulate-General, 

Boma^ January 2, 1908. 
Sir : I beg to inform you that Mr. Armstrong, British vice-consul 
at Leopoldville, has courteously submitted to me his report to the 
British foreign office on the result of his observations during a recent 
trip into the same region visited by Mr. Murdoch. Mr. Armstrong's 
report is a long one, dealing almost entirely, and in detail, with the 
conditions in the numerous villages through which he passed, and is 
a striking confirmation of the facts and conclusions reached by Mr. 
Murdoch. He finds a discrepancy in the statement of Mr. Murdoch 
as to the amount of rubber assessed and his own information on the 
subject, but referring to this says: 

This is a discrepancy of small moment, since the importance of the tax, 
whether it is of 1 kilogram or 10, rests upon the time taken to produce that 
amount. I accept absolutely the statements of Mr. Murdoch and the natives 
as to the distances the nativ<^s have to cover to obtain the amount of their tax. 

Again, he says: 

There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the average month's work 
of every native is not less than twenty days. The improvement that has been 
made by the application of the reform decrees of June, 1906, is solely in the 
withdrawal of the armed sentries — a reform which the serious decimation of 
the population by the sentries demanded. 

I learn, upon the authority of the British consul — who has but re- 
cently arrived here — that, in the opinion of his Government, the 
public exposure and agitation respecting atrocities has so far suc- 
ceeded in its purpose as to put an effectual stop to them for the time, 
and that his Government is now seeking information tending to 
prove that a condition of slavery exists in the Kongo. The evidence 
submitted by Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Murdoch and my own observa- 
tions, all the result of personal contact with the natives and a close 
study of the conditions under which they live, point unmistakably 
to the conclusion that no other word can be used to adequately de^ 
scribe the present state of affairs in a large section of the upper 
Kongo. 

I have, etc., Jas. A. Smith, Gonsul-General. 



No. 29. 

The Consul General at Boma to the Assistant Secretary of State. 

No. 14.] American Consulate-General, 

Boma, January 3, 1908. 
Sir : I have the honor to send you herewith inclosed a copy in dupli- 
cate of a report submitted to the British Government by Mr. Arm- 
strong, British vice-consul at Leopoldville, regarding the tax in 
" kwanga " in the Stanley Pool district. This tax was described in 
my report to you of November 20 last, but as Mr. Armstrong goes 
into the question somewhat more in detail, I consider it important to 
submit his report for your examination and fuller information. 



48 APPAIES IN THE KONGO. 

In the main I fully agree with Mr. Armstrong's conclusions, and 
as to the facts I believe they are irrefutable. I can not, however, 
concur in his opinion that the women's tax is but 16 francs a year. 
Actually, the difference between the present market value of kwanga 
in this district and the remuneration granted by the State amounts 
to 16 francs per year, but as the State forces her to bring in 400 kilo- 
grams at 6 centimes per kilogTam, and by so doing takes up practically 
her entire time to produce and deliver this amount, it leaves her no 
opportunity to engage in a more remunerative occupation. If she 
were at liberty to do so she might, by the cultivation of vegetable 
gardens or other employment, earn during the year much more than 
the 16 francs' difference between the remuneration and the market 
value of kwanga. It follows, therefore, that 16 francs can not fairly 
be said to represent the amount of her tax. As a matter of fact, in 
my opinion, neither the 24 francs nor the 16 francs can be logically 
called her tax. We can only say that 24 francs represent the legal 
paper basis; the rest is arbitrary, and her tax is simply incessant 
labor, or what she would be able to earn if her time were her own, 
less the 24 francs paid her in merchandise. The State arbitrarily 
reduces the earning power of the woman to 24 francs yearly, and pays 
this amount to her, calling the difference between this and the market 
value her tax. The real basis of the tax is compulsory labor at 
making kwanga. The remedy is obvious — a tax in money, which 
would leave the woman free to earn that money where and how she 
pleases. 

I have, etc., Jas. A. Smith, Oonsul-General. 



[Inclosiire.] 

[Printed in British report "Africa No. 1, 1908 ", cd. 3880.] 

Copy of report of Mr. Armstrong, British vice-consul at Leopoldville, Kongo Free 
State, sent %is Government December 18, 1907, on details of "kwanga " tax 
in the Stanley Pool district. 

In continuation of my report forwarded under cover of my dispatch No. 1, 
Africa, of August 2, 1907, I have now the honor to transmit to you details 
of the food tax in the district surrounding Stanley Pool. 

I make no comment upon the tax in money which has been allowed to a 
certain proportion of the male and female inhabitants in this district, as being 
quite new I have had little or no opportunity of finding out exactly what it 
implies, but if it is conscientiously applied it should prove of great benefit to 
the people. 

The amount of the tax in money is 6 francs per head, and the acceptance of 
money in lieu of produce rests exclusively with the commissaire de district. I 
am mformed that payments of taxes in money have been refused in many towns 
m the Stanley Pool district. 

The taxation of women in money (and in kangwa) creates a precedent which 
does not exist in any West African colony, as far as I am aware ; and it neces- 
sarily follows that women who can not supply chikwangue are permitted to 
pay their tax m money where they are living with their countrymen, outside 
their towns, who are in the employment of the missions or the traders, etc., 
which means that married men are called upon to supply a double tax. 
t>,io .vef"^ 'J^ chikwangue falls exceedingly hard upon the female population of 
follows • ^^ ^°™^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^"^^^^ ^^^^ *'^^' ^^^^^ ^^ imposed as 

The tax when levied in chikwangue is based upon a value of 24 francs per 
annum. The market value at Leopoldville is 10 centimes peAnQgram. The 



APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 49 

State remunerates the native at the rate of 6 centimes per kilogram, and the 
difference, viz, 4 centimes, is credited to him for the payment of his tax. 

It is impossible to fix this tax with regard to the law of forty hours' labor per 
month ; the time which each native occupies in making gardens, clearing forest, 
cultivating the plants, transporting the root from garden to village, soaking in 
water previously to eventually pounding and boiling to render it the taxable 
produce, is impossible of calculation. 

The amount required of each woman is therefore 400 kilograms per annum, 
which is calculated by the State as follows : 

Four hundred kilograms at 10 centimes market value, 40 francs. 

Four hundred kilograms at 6 centimes state valuation, 24 francs. 

The difference is therefore the amount of her tax, viz, 16 francs. 

The men, on the other hand, are taxed in labor, which is not supposed to 
exceed forty hours per month. Their duties consist in carrying the tax in 
chikwangue to the State, an obligation which they do not always carry out, as 
one frequently sees both women and children engaged in this work. 

For the convenience and equalization of porterage the district supplying chik- 
wangue is divided into zones. 

In the first zone the villages range from an hour's to a day's journey from 
the receiving station. The natives supply their tax every four days. 

In the second zone, from one to two days' distance, in which case the tax is 
supplied every eight days. The third zone has now been abolished, ' and the 
people take their tax to a post on the railway every four days, and are allowed 
8 centimes per kilogram instead of 6 centimes, as in the first and second zones. 

To what extent they are subject to other corvees depends entirely upon the 
demands of the state authorities in the district. The villages are naturally 
dependent to a certain extent upon the men to carry the food tax to the state 
posts; but the law recognizes the right of the commissaire de district to call 
upon the men for purposes of porterage in the district. I am not aware that 
such porterage is demanded to any large extent, and indeed the needs of the 
chikwangue carrying almost precludes the State from levying anything but a 
very small percentage of the male population for porterage, as the food tax is 
required to be carried to the state posts every four or eight days, according to 
the distance of the towns from the state receiving posts throughout the year. 

The natives complain very bitterly of the hardship of this tax. I am in- 
formed by the natives themselves, the missionaries, and from intelligent natives 
who have received good educations, and whose testimony I should accept with- 
out reserve, that the women are constantly at work to supply this tax. To 
such an extent is this true that it is imjpossible for anyone of them to leave 
their towns at any time for fear of the consequences of a shortage in the supply, 
for which they are liable to punishment. 

I have received several complaints from the natives that no reduction was 
made to them for reasons of sickness in their towns, and I am told by the 
authorities to whom I mentioned this complaint that the natives in many 
cases address such complaints only to the receivers of taxes, who are not 
authorized to grant reductions, and who it would appear take little or no 
interest in the natives, instead of to the commissaire de district or the judicial 
authorities. I was further informed that the competent authorities had received 
no complaints from the natives since the application of the June, 1906, decrees, 
and this statement would appear to confirm the opinion that the natives made 
their representations through the wrong channels. 

In summarizing the foregoing report the most important points are: 

1. The severity of the tax upon the women, which, I am told on good author- 
ity, has seriously reduced the birth rate in the towns. 

2. The constant work involved by making chikwangue almost every day and 
which is required to be delivered every four or eight days. 

3. The frequency with which the taxes become due curtails the freedom of 
the native to such an extent as to preclude him from doing anything which 
would be of material benefit to himself or family. 

The reason for making the chikwangue tax payable in such short intervals is 
that it spoils in a few days, and unless quite fresh it is almost uneatable. 

With regard to the porterage of the food, which devolves upon the men, I 
would point out that it does not, as far as I am able to find out, require all 
the men in the town to carry the tax to the post on each market day, and 
the reason that women and children are often employed in carrying out this 
corvee is that the men are to a large extent engaged in the making of new 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 4 



50 AIT AIRS IN THE KONGO. 

Dlantations hunting for game, which forms a large portion of their customary 
SecTms would account for the misstatements so often made that the 
men'do no wo kind leave it all to the women. Native customs define clearly 
Se duties 5 men and women and do not differ widely m this respect with 
BuroDean customs, and although the duties of the former are perhaps more 
var'ed and thus less burdensome, the degree of those duties is none the less 
imnortant to the welfare of the town. _ . v,m 

The men's duties as applied to towns and districts paying taxes m ctuk- 
wangue are perhaps at the present time of very small importance, but this is 
due to the fact that they have no business, having practically nothing left to 
them to trade with. A very important item in the native man's duty is the 
construction and repairing of their houses, which, judging from the condition 
of the houses in every part of the State that I have visited-with the excep- 
tion of the state camps, which are admirably built and none more excellent 
from every point of view than those at Leopoldville— would go to prove that 
the extent of their duties to the State was exceedingly heavy. 

Since my arrival in Leopoldville in April last I have heard of no cases of 
imprisonment or restraint of any kind being imposed upon the natives for 
shortage in their taxes. Exceptional leniency in this respect would seem to 
prevail; nor do I believe that such punishments have been inflicted, and this 
consideration toward the natives would be proved by the fact that I knew of a 
village close to Leopoldville that had failed to bring in its tax for several 

months. , ^ tvt -, * -c • 

In my report on the reform decrees forwarded under cover of No. 1, Atrica, 
of August 2, 1907, I anticipated the trouble that might arise from the law 
permitting the competent authorities to accept or refuse payments of taxes in 

money. 

The natives of the Stanley Pool district inhabiting the banks of the Kongo 
River above Leopoldville and Kinchasa, extending over a distance of some 150 
miles, have been refused the alternative of paying their tax in money. Similar 
conditions prevail in other parts of this district below Leopoldville. The pay- 
ment of the tax in money is the only means the native has of purchasing his 
freedom and procuring for himself the value of the produce he now gives to 
the State. 

If there is no money in some of these towns it is obviously the fault of the 
State for the system they maintain. The wealth of this district is foodstuff, 
and its appropriation by the State has made it impossible for the native to 
obtain money. 

In the adjoining French colony the price of chikwangue is higher than in the 
Kongo Free State. This is due to the fact that in the French colony the price 
of foodstuff is governed by the supply and demand of a free market. 

I was informed by the acting commissaire-general of the French Kongo that 
the natives of the district of Brazzaville (which corresponds to the Stanley 
Pool district of the Kongo Free State) and throughout the French Kongo, with 
very rare exceptions, pay their taxes in money readily, and in the case of the 
Brazzaville district they pay more per head than is actually assessed. His 
excellency further informed me that it is absolutely forbidden by law — which is 
strenuously observed by the officials — to use any force or restraint whatever in 
the collection of taxes without the special permission of the French colonial 
office. 

A market has now been built at Leopoldville, and the natives who are free to 
dispose of their foodstuff are gradually being brought to avail themselves of 
the benefits it affords. 

It is obvious that the reform decrees as applied to this district are quite 
inadequate. 



No. 30. 
The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. 

[Telegram. — Paraphrase.] 

Department of State, 
Washington, January 9, 1908. 
What has recently occurred regarding Kongo cession? Upon re- 
cent reports of continued oppression of natives of the Kongo, this 



AFFAIES IN THE KOWGO. 51 

Government is much indisposed to delay urgent representations in 
the sense of my letter to Ambassador Eeid dated November 4, trans- 
mitted to you November 6. Cable report promptly. 

Root. 



No. 31. 

The Secretary of State to Charge Garter. 

Department of State, 
Washington^ January 10, 1908. 

My Dear Mr. Carter : I inclose a copy of a report received from 
our new consul-general at Boma* which indicates the continued op- 
pression of the natives of the Kongo and deepens the conviction which 
I expressed to Mr. Reid in my letter of November 4, that both the 
spirit and, in some important respects, the letter of the Brussels con- 
vention of 1890, to which the United States is a party, are being vio- 
lated. 

It would seem as if the International Association of the Kongo, to 
which sovereignty over a vast region was accorded by the civilized 
powers for the express purpose of accomplishing a great humani- 
tarian work for the protection and elevation of the natives, had per- 
verted its power to the establishment of a money-making enterprise 
at the expense of the natives. 

I also inclose a copy of a dispatch dated December 23, 1907,* from 
Mr. Wilson, our minister at Brussels, by which it appears that the 
British minister. Sir Arthur H. Hardinge, and himself were of the 
opinion that such representations as they were authorized to unite in 
making to the Government of Belgium would be inexpedient and 
might interfere with the taking over of the Kongo territory by Bel- 
gium under conditions which would lead to a reform of existing 
abuses. I can understand that this opinion may have had good foun- 
dation, but I do not feel willing to continue indefinitely the policy of 
silence. I do not think that we ought to stand silently by and per- 
mit a transfer of sovereignty over the Kongo to Belgium unless it be 
upon terms which will plainly make it possible for the Government 
of Belgium to redress the abuses. If there is any danger of that, and 
there would seem to be, I wish to give notice before it is done that 
the United States considers that the treaty to which it is a party is 
being violated, and to insist that the violation shall cease, so that 
Belgium will take the title with full notice. 

Representations upon this subject can be made with even greater 
force by Great Britain than by us, because Great Britain joined with 
the King of the Belgians in inviting the powers to the Brussels con- 
ference, and has a special right to object to the * disregard of 
the whole purpose of that conference, and because Great Britain is 
a party to the Berlin convention, the terms of which are even more 
forcible and explicit than the Brussels convention. 

At the risk of repetition, let me restate our position. It is that 
while we do not wish by any interference to create irritation or a 

o Printed ante, p. 30. ^ Not printed. 



52 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

preiudice that may prevent the kind of action by the Belgian Parlia- 
ment necessary to secure for Belgium the power to redress abuses 
in the Kono-o, we do not think that there ought to be undue delay 
in sio-nifyin'g to the Government of Belgium that we expect treaty 
oblicrations to be observed, the oppression of the natives to cease, and 
that^if Belgium takes over the sovereignty of the Kongo she will be 
expected to take it subject to that moral obhgation. , • » 

Please talk freely with Sir Edward Grey on the subject, so that it 
I should determine to cable our minister at Brussels peremptory 
instructions to make representations to Belgium and should commu- 
nicate the fact to you by cable, the British Government may under- 
stand the spirit and purpose of our action and be in a position to cable 
Sir Arthur H. Hardinge in view of that understanding. I hope that 
in such case the British Government will be disposed to make their 
former instructions to Sir Arthur H. Hardinge peremptory, and that 
the two Governments may make representations in the same sense 
and in the same spirit. 

Faithfully, yours, Elihu Koot. 



No. 32. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram — Parapbrase. ] 

American Legation, 
Brussels^ January 10, 1908. 

Your telegram January 9 just received. The death of Prime Min- 
ister de Trooz has very much altered the situation relative to the 
annexation of the Kongo. I am informed that Minister SchoUaert, 
on taking office, insisted on such changes in the treaty of annexa- 
tion as' would lead to the absolute suppression of the so-called Domain 
of the Crown, which is the source of the greatest complaint, and the 
free and unrestricted exercise of Belgian sovereignty in every part of 
the Kongo, The new minister has just taken office this day and all 
questions of policy are supposed to be in a state of transition. 

Immediately on receipt of the department's telegram I submitted 
to the British minister. Sir Arthur Hardinge, a copy. He emphatic- 
ally expressed the opinion that any action at the present time of 
transition would be unfair and ill "considered. He stated also that 
he had as yet no definite instructions to act ; that his instructions did 
not contemplate an urgent representation, but simply a private and 
informal hint. 

As the spirit of the department's prior instructions^ as well as the 
fact that we are not signatory to the Berlin act, would indicate that 
in concerted action with the British minister my role should be one 
of support and in some sense secondary, I am obliged to ask whether 
the department now desires me to make an immediate and independ- 
ent representation based on its instructions to American Ambassa- 
dor Eeid and its telegram of December 16. 

Wilson. 



APFAIES m THE KONGO. 53 

Ko. 33. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

i\o. 279,] American Legation, 

Brussels^ January 15, 1908. 
Sir: I have the honor to report that at the session of the Belgian 
Chamber of Representatives yesterday the new premier, Mr. Schol- 
laert, made the following declaration of the policy of the Government 
m regard to Kongo matters: 

The sad occurrence which has rendered necessary a modification in the com- 
position or the Cabinet has in no respect modified the programme of the Govern- 
ment. 

We refer to the communication made to the Chambers by the late regretted 
Mr. de Trooz at the moment when he assumed the direction of affairs. Since 
then an important fact has arisen on which a declaration appears to us to be 
necessary. 

The Government had announced the production of a scheme " for the taking 
over by Belgium of the African colony." At the same time it intrusted pleni- 
potentiaries with the "duty of preparing, in conjunction with the plenipoten- 
tiaries of the Free State, the agreement which should effect the transfer of 
the Kongo to Belgium and of deciding the means of execution." The instruc- 
tions given to these plenipotentiaries were to arrange this agreement "on the 
lines of that of 1895, the text and annexes of which are to be brought into 
relation with the actual situation." 

The plenipotentiaries labored with equal conscientiousness and activity and 
were soon in a position to present to the Government a complete report on the 
actual situation of our future colony. A treaty of annexation was then con- 
cluded, under date of November 28, 1907, between Belgium, represented by 
all the members of the Government, and the Kongo Free State, represented by 
its secretaries-general. And at the sitting of December 3 you were put in posses- 
sion of the bill approving the treaty of annexation. 

In conformity with a previous decision, you ordered the examination of this 
proposal to be referred to the commission of seventeen, which was already 
engaged in examining the colonial bill. 

Without in any way wishing to anticipate the results of the labors of the 
commission, we are in a position to state that the attentive study of the docu- 
ments and annexes attached to the proposal has confirmed, and perhaps gone 
beyond, the opinions previously formed on the state of material prosperity of 
our future colony and its future. 

It is possible that further light may be thrown on certain points, but it 
would be unfair to contest the merit of a work which has hardly existed a 
quarter of a century and which finds itself in the first rank among similar 
enterprises. 

It is our duty also to state, and we do so with patriotic pride, that the em- 
mense majority of the Belgian nation desires to take over the Kongo State. 
It feels that the moment for taking a definite resolution has arrived. The 
time has come for Belgium to decide. Now, the opening of the Kongo to 
civilization is the work of her King. It is for her sake and with the help of 
the Belgians that he has occupied the country. The idea that the Kongo must 
be ours is so clear that for most people the great African colony has no other 
name than that of the Belgian Kongo. 

Finally, it is our duty to state, and we do so with perfect openness, that 
the tenor of the treaty has provoked certain apprehensions in many minds, 
even among citizens devoted to a colonial policy and admirers of the work of 
the Sovereign of the Free State. The attentive study of the question will show 
to what extent the objections which have been raised are well founded, and 
whether they can not be satisfied by some change in the plan. You do not 
expect us to improvise a solution at this moment. For it must not be forgot- 
ten that the object of the discussion is an agreement which requires the consent 
of two contracting parties. Our most ardent desire is that in the examination 
of this great and patriotic question our only thought should be the welfare 
and prosperity of the mother country, of the native populations, and of the 
colony. At this solemn moment let us forget our differences of opinion; let 
us work together without distinction of party. We appeal for the assistance 



54 APFAmS IN" THE KONGO. 

Of all for this great work which we are about to undertake for the expansion 
and future of our country— the work of the entire nation. 

At the conclusion of the reading of the declaration, Mr. Hymans, 
leader of the Liberals, stated that the attitude of the Left toward the 
treaty had not changed in anywise, but that it would enter into a 
free and fair discussion for the purpose of assisting the Government 
in finding a solution in accord with the interests of Belgium. 

Mr. Vandervelde, leader of the Socialist party, spoke m a similar 
tenor, with the reservation, however, that the Socialist party were 
opposed to annexation of the Kongo to Belgium in any form. 

It will be noted that Mr. Schollaert has not committed himself to 
any definite programme. His declaration may be said to be moderate 
in tone, conciliatory, but not indicative of any radical departure from 
the policy of his predecessor. 

Undoubtedly interpellations for the purpose of ascertaining the 
definite programme of the Government will be made in the Chamber 
very soon. The replies thereto, and the discussions which must inevi- 
tably follow, will most likely reveal the exact purposes of the Gov- 
ernment and define its attitude in Kongo matters. 
I have, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



No. 34. 
Charge Garter to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Embassy, 
No. 224. — Confidential.] London, January %1^ 1908 — 3 p. m. 

I am now informed that Sir Edward Grey has instructed Sir 
Arthur H. Hardinge to make to the Belgian Government the com- 
munication already arranged with the United States minister at 
Brussels, as stated in Mr. Reid's No. 216, as soon as the latter is 
ready to do so. This will enable Sir Arthur H. Hardinge to act at 
once as soon as you see fit to instruct the United States minister at 
Brussels. Sir Edward Grey assures me that he is very glad to be 
in accord with you in this matter. In fact, he has always been so, 
though he left the time and opportunity to the discretion of the 
British minister at Brussels, whose delay no doubt may be explained 
by local conditions, such as the change of government, death of the 
prime minister, and the attitude of the present government, which, 
apparently, is more favorable to our mutual views. 

Carter. 



No. 35. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Legation", 
Brussels, January 23, 1908. 
Visited Belgian minister for foreign affairs in company with Sir 
Arthur H. Hardinge and made representation in accordance with 
our several instructions. 

• ''" i^^^,^^V^®f ^^6 subject of our visit by saying that public opinion 
in the United States was deeply concerned over conditions in the 



ATFAIES IN THE KONGO. 55 

Kongo region, alleged to be in violation of the act of Brussels, 1890, 
and that my Government was very solicitous at this moment of the 
possible taking over of the Kongo by Belgium; that important re- 
forms should be instituted, especially in the carrying into effect of 
article 2 of the Brussels act. I said, moreover, that we are not con- 
cerned with the commercial or territorial aspects of the Kongo ques- 
tion, but that we reserved our right of approval of annexation until 
assured that the same would provide for the carrying into effect of 
the humanitarian provisions of the Berlin act, as reenforced and em- 
phasized in the Brussels act of 1890. In conclusion, I expressed the 
hope that the treaty of annexation might [provide?] such safeguards 
for the execution of the Brussels act as would be satisfactory to inter- 
national opinion and public opinion in the United States. 

Sir Arthur H. Hardinge defined his Government's position at 
much greater length, but the substance of what he said was that the 
British Government, while not desirous of influencing the attitude 
of the Belgian Parliament, found it incumbent nevertheless to make 
known the fact that it reserved its right as a signatory to the Berlin 
act, in view of the possibility of the annexation of the Kongo not 
being carried out in conformity with its spirit. 

Belgian minister for foreign affairs made no comment whatsoever 
upon the observations we offered, confining himself to simple ques- 
tions having for their object an exact knowledge of the two Govern- 
ments' attitude. 

Wilson. 

No. 36. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Legation, 

Brussels^ January 30, 1908. 
Belgian minister for foreign affairs has handed me a memorandum 
for copy and return in regard to our interview of January 23. It inti- 
mates that the annexation of Kongo is not an international question. 
Recites that the treaty now pending declares that Belgium in accept- 
ing cession assumes treaty obligations of Kongo State and that 
Belgian Government will execute same in same spirit and letter as 
observed in its own existing treaties with other powers. Touching 
acts of Berlin and Brussels on the conventional basin of the Kongo, 
states that the fact of Belgium being a contracting party therein is a 
sure guaranty of intentions of Belgian Government. Concludes, ex- 
pressing the friendly and amicable, as well as private, character of 
the memorandum. 

Wilson. 



No. 37. 

Minuter Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 290.] American Legation, 

Brussels, January 31, 1908. 
Sir: I have the honor to confirm my cablegram of January 30. 
As therein stated, Mr. Davignon, the Belgian minister for for- 



56 APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

eign affairs, called at the legation on the 29th and left with me for 
copy and return a memorandum, copy and translation of which are 
inclosed, relative to the interview which the British minister, Sir 
Arthur Hardinge, and I had with him on January 23. 

The department will note that the memorandum is addressed more 
particularly to the representations made by the British minister than 
to those which, under instructions from the department, I briefly 
submitted. This is accounted for by two circumstances: First, as a 
natural resultant of my indication to Mr. Davignon, as reported 
in my No. 285,'^ that on account of our purely humanitarian interests 
in the Kongo question and the greater and more complicated in- 
terests of Great Britain I preferred to have my British colleague 
present our case in extenso, and confined my own remarks to a brief 
but literal representation of the department's views; second, to the 
fact that Sir Arthur Hardinge, subsequently to our interview, per- 
mitted the secretary of Mr. Davignon to take a copy of his written 
statement, thus making the same the basis of the discussion. I was 
not asked for a memorandum of my brief observations and I sup- 
pose that Mr. Davignon — perhaps properly — assumed that in volun- 
tarily surrendering the principal role to my colleague I had also 
assigned to him the right to receive a direct reply. 

The essential point, however, of my representation is noted in Mr. 
Davignon's memorandum, and there is no doubt whatsoever that our 
position was clearly expressed and clearly understood. 

******* 

In the meantime I shall carefully watch the course of events here 
and report the same to the department. 
I have the honor, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure 2 to No. 290. — Translation.] 

[See Belgian Gray Book, 1908.] 

"Nota Pro Memoria, January 29, 1908. 

Sir A. Hardinge, in accord with his colleague of the United States, has 
brought to our knowledge that the annexation of the Kongo to Belgium was 
considered by their Governments as the best solution under the circumstances. 

The Belgian Government notes with satisfaction the opinion of the cabinets 
at London and at Washington regarding the joining of the Kongo to Belgium. 
Since these two countries have the same sovereign and the same obligations, 
it is therefore merely a question, from an international standpoint, of a simple 
transfer by which the advantages of the parliamentary regime enjoyed by the 
mother country will be conferred upon the colony. 

The Belgian Government, when transmitting to the Chambers the papers 
m the transfer, could not fail to recall to them that in 1895 the project of 
annexation did not elicit observations from abroad. This is a well-known fact, 
to which it has not on this occasion added any commentaries. 

The treaty of cession not having as yet been approved, and the colonial law 
not havmg been voted, the form of interior administration which will be 
effected by annexation is at this moment under examination and discussion in 
Parliament in the full exercise of the supreme authority of legislative right 
and Sir A. Hardinge has thought it proper to indicate that the British Govern- 
ment was anxious to avoid all intrusion therein. 



^ Not printed. 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 57 

Sir A. Hardinge has insisted, however, that no doubt should remain in the 
mind of the Belgian cabinet regarding the capital importance which the two 
Governments attach to the application by Belgium, if she should take the place 
of the Independent State of the Kongo, of the provisions of the international 
agreements regarding the absolute freedom of commerce, of the rights of 
Christian missionaries, and of the humane and equitable treatment of the native 
population. The minister of the United States has particularly insisted upon 
the importance which his Government attaches to the enforcement of the pro- 
visions of article 2 of the general act of Brussels concerning the treatment 
of the native races. 

The treaty of cession, now before the Chambers, declares in its first article 
that Belgium, in accepting the cession, assumes as its own the obligations 
established by treaties which the Kongo State has concluded with foreign 
powers. The Government of the King will observe in the execution of its en- 
gagements the same care and the same loyalty it applies, in spirit and in 
letter, to the convention, of whatever nature, which to-day bind Belgium with 
the Government of His Britannic Majesty and of all other powers. 

Regarding that which particularly concerns the provisions of the general act 
of Berlin of February 26, 18S5, and of that of Brussels of July 2, 1890, concerning 
the conventional basin of the Kongo, it might be well to recall that Belgium 
is a directly contracting party to tliese international acts, and that her pleni- 
potentiaries took a part therein, which is a sure guaranty of the intentions 
which to-day inspire the Belgian Government. 

In making this reply to Sir A. Hardinge and to Mr. Wilson, Mr. Davignon is 
animated by the same sentiments which- have called forth the unofficial com- 
munication of their excellencies, and he attaches to it the same friendly and 
private character. 



No. 38. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Legation, 
Brussels^ February 5, 1908. 
The Government yesterday withdrew Kongo annexation treaty 
from consideration of Parliament, with statement that it proposed to 
submit a new project in lieu of it. This, it is understood, will pro- 
vide for suppression of the Domain of the Crown, with equivalents 
to the King in the form of special civil list for realizing the phil- 
anthropic, scientific, and other enterprises of the King in Belgium 
and in the Kongo. The new treaty, if submitted as indicated, will 
be adopted and will, in my judgment, afford a solution of the Kongo 
question satisfactory to Belgian and international opinion. 

Wilson. 



No. 39. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 295.1 American Legation, 

Brussels, February 6", 1908. 

Sir : I have the honor to confirm my telegram of February 5. 

In explanation of the information contained therein I have to re- 
port the following events. It appears that the cabinet of Mr. Schol- 
laert * * * made known to His Majesty the King its inability 



58 APFAIBS IN THE KONGO. 

to secure a parliamentary majority for the pending treaty of annex- 
ation, and advised him that the pressure of Belgian public opinion 
(and possibly international opinion) called imperatively for the 
suppression of the Domain of the Crown— the character and scope 
of which has been explained in former dispatches— and the ^unre- 
stricted sovereignty of Belgium throughout every part of the Kongo. 
It was further submitted to His Majesty that, while public opinion 
was fixed and irrevocable to that extent, it might be possible to carry 
through a treaty of annexation which, while safeguarding these 
views, might at the same time, in recognition of the_ services and sac- 
rifices of the King, afford financial compensations in the form of a 
special fund designed to carry on the philanthropic, scientific, and 
other projects which the King has, or claims to have, in hand for the 
benefit of Belgium and the Kongo, 

The day after Mr. SchoUaert handed in to the commission of seven- 
teen the following ministerial declaration : 

Mr. President : The Government has decided to ask the Independent State of 
the Kongo to open new negotiations on the subject of the transfer of the Kongo 
to Belgium. It has, therefore, the honor to ask you to suspend your delibera- 
tions upon the subject of the treaty which has been submitted to you for some 
days, in order that it may transmit the additional convention which it expects 
to conclude. 

It will be glad if you will consent to resume, for a while, the examination, in 
the second reading, of the bill for the government of the colonial possessions of 
Belgium. 

Be good enough, Mr. President, to receive the assurance of my high con- 
sideration. 

L. SCHOLLAERT. 

The treaty of annexation, therefore, which has been pending before 
Parliament may be considered as having passed out of the realm of 
debate, and we may expect to enter upon the discussion of an entirely 
new phase of the Kongo question. 

******* 

I have, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



No. 40. 



Charge Carter to the Secretary of State. 

American Embassy, 
London, February 27, 1908. 
Dear Mr. Eoot : This is only to inclose a clipping from the Times 
of the 27th, giving an account of the debate in the House of Commons 
that night, which includes Sir Edward Grey's pronouncement on the 
subject of the Kongo. 

Yours, very sincerely, j. r. Carter. 



[Inclosure.] 

The Kongo Free State. 



of^ule KoL^oTiip ^?t?r^^?*^' ^PP^^K."*'"^ ^^^ ^^^1 attention to the aifairs 
or the Kongo Fiee State, and to move: " That this House, being convinced that 



AFFAIRS IK THE KONGO. 59 

the present system of administration on the Kongo is destructive of the personal 
liberty and economic rights of the native population and of the freedom of 
commercial intercourse with the outer world, as guaranteed by the Anglo- 
Kongolese Convention of 1884 and the Berlin act of 1885, aslis the Government 
to do all in its power to secure that a fundamental alteration of the system 
shall be effected by any transfer of control of the State from the present 
Sovereign to any other authority ; and, failing such transfer within a reasonable 
time, assures the Government of its hearty support in the measures it may be 
necessary to take, either alone or in conjunction with the other signatories of 
the Berlin act, in order to insure the effective carrying out of its provisions." 
He said that public opinion was concerned to know whether a settlement of 
this Kongo question was any nearer. There had been nine parliamentary 
debates on the subject in five years. Five years ago the House of Commons 
passed without a dissentient a resolution calling on the then Government to 
concert with other powers measures for abating the evils; but that resolution 
had had no result. Agitation compelled the appointment of a commission of 
inquiry, whose report revealed a state of things amounting to slavery. Then 
followed a commission of reform and the issue of reform decrees, but eighteen 
months had passed under those decrees, and yet, as the recent White Book 
showed, conditions existed which could not be realized without horror and 
indignation. That document justified everything that had been said against 
the administration of the Kongo State. One of our consuls described the 
oflBcial reports of the Kongo government as " Pecksniffian formulas," and an- 
other as " a series of carefully fabricated falsehoods." Under the decrees 
forced labor was to be abolished; but Mr. Mitchell reported that the corvee 
system had not been modified. The forced labor of the natives in payment 
of the rubber tax was to be limited to forty hours a month. But Mr. Arm- 
strong reported that the average month's work for each native was not less 
than twenty days. And this forced labor was extended to the women, who, 
in consequence of the strain, were ceasing to bear children. The population, 
depressed, overworked, and underfed, were falling a prey to disease. The 
country was being robbed of its resources. The forests were being destroyed 
and the live stock was disappearing. Of justice there was none for the native, 
and at government there was no attempt, as our consuls testified. Before the 
eyes of civilization a race was being murdered. That was what twenty-five 
years of civilization, under the guardianship of Europe, had done for the Kongo ; 
and all for the benefit of speculators. During the last ten years at least 
£2,000,000 a year had been taken out of the Kongo State. He stood there to 
say, in the name of outraged public opinion, that this system could not be 
allowed to go on. [Cheers.] They thought the time had come for His Majesty's 
Government to act, and to act with decision and directness. If Belgium vol- 
unteered to undertake the task of really civilizing the Kongo that would be a 
welcome solution, but we must be on our guard lest we should force on Belgium 
the task, which would tax her very heavily. At the same time, Belgium should 
be told plainly that we could recognize no nominal transfer of authority from 
the present ruler of the Kongo, but only a transfer which would secure full 
parliamentary control by Belgium, which would restore to the natives their 
proprietary rights and their liberties, and which would open the Kongo to real 
freedom of trade. [Hear ! hear !] There was a letter in the Times of Monday, 
which should be carefully read, from Mr. Gilchrist. That letter showed that 
the white man's treatment of the blacks in the Kongo was consolidating the 
black races against the white man, and, seeing that we bordered on the Kongo 
State at so many points, that was a growing danger which deserved the very 
careful consideration of His Majesty's Government. In reviewing the history 
of the last five years it was diflicult to resist the idea that the present ruler 
of the Kongo had no intention of giving up his control of the resources of that 
State, and that by one suggestion or another, by one delay after another, and 
by one specious pretext or another, he was playing with the powers of Europe 
and preventing them from reaching a solution. [Cheers.] Let us again appeal 
to the powers — there was more light now than there was In 1903 — if, after a 
period, we found that the Belgian solution did not take place. The powers 
refused to help us in 1903; to-day they might be willing to do so. If His 
Majesty's Government would act strongly in this matter they would have behind 
them in this country an instructed and earnest public opinion. [Cheers.] He 
begged to move the motion. 

Sir J. Kennaway (Devon, Honiton), in seconding the motion, said the Kongo 
chapter of African history had from the beginning been one of high expectation, 



go AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

but, lie was sorry to say, of great disappointment. Tlie whole idea of the 
formation of the Kongo State was that it was intended for civilizing and 
benevolent purposes; but what was it now but an enterprise for the accumula- 
tion of rubber at an infinite cost of human life and suffering? [Cheers.] 
King Leopold, in a letter last summer, claimed it as his own property, and now 
they were told he was endeavoring to sell it for £6,000,000. The vote in the 
Belgian Chamber in December of last year could, however, be taken as a 
decfsion that the question of annexation must be taken up, and the Belgian 
people were beginning to face the question as they had never faced it before. 
Wh-it could we do in the matter? We wanted to avoid wounding Belgian 
susceptibilities and we desired that the Belgian people should rise to the height 
of the situation and endeavor by every means in their power to wipe off the 
disgrace of perpetuating a system of the most cruel description. [Cheers.] 
We must let them understand, however, that the Belgian solution must be a real 
solution. With nothing less would the people of this country be satisfied. 

Sir G. White (Norfolk, N. W.) expressed the anxiety felt by many members at 
the prospect of annexation without any f^eliberate undertaking on the part of Bel- 
gium to alter a system which was mainly responsible for the evils which had 
been described. He believed the public opinion of this country was aroused to such 
an extent that, should annexation take place without a complete and drastic 
change in the system of government on the Kongo also taking place, his right 
honorable friend would be placed in a very serious position, because that public 
opinion must then force him to take action in circumstances which, perhaps, 
would be more difficult than they were at the present time. From all the 
information that reached this country, he thought they had the utmost warranty 
for not feeling any degree of hope that these great changes were contemplated. 
He urged his right honorable friend to take such steps as would leave the 
Belgian Government in no doubt whatever as to what was the determination 
of this country. At the great meeting presided over by the Lord Mayor, the 
reply was read of the King of the Belgians to the address presented by the city 
of London on the initiation of the Kongo Free State. It must have presented 
itself to that meeting as an indictment of the whole conduct of the King of the 
Belgians, for not a single promise that he then made, not a single obligation 
he entered into in that document, had been in any sense fulfilled. If those 
obligations had been fulfilled, millions of lives would have been saved ; unheard 
of cruelties would have been avoided ; legitimate trade and commerce, in which 
this nation would have had its fair and reasonable share, would have been 
carried on ; the rights of humanity would have been respected, and the twentieth 
century would not have had to hide its head in shame that such a page of 
history should be written. It was the system they indicted — the system which 
denied to the natives any proprietary rights in the soil of their country or its 
natural products. The terrible charges had again and again been proved up to 
the hilt. Many months ago now his right honorable friend had said in that 
House, " We can not wait forever." They were asking when the time limit would 
expire. Whilst negotiations had proceeded, and dispatches passed from one 
country to another, there had been no armistice to the cruelties that went on 
in the Kongo State. [Hear ! hear !] The last proposition that had been made 
was that the King of the Belgians was prepared to dispose of that which, in his 
judgment, never belonged to him [cheers], for six millions of money. Here was 
an offer of the bodies and souls of men, and all that rightly belonged to them, 
for a few miserable millions of money ! In consequence of the system which 
had been practiced, the King had little to offer except a devastated and partly 
depopulated State. Lord Cromer, in his noble speech, had declared that the 
practices in the Kongo were contrary not only to the dictates of humanity but 
to treaty obligations. Why had we not insisted on the enforcement of our 
treaty rights? The interests of humanity and of trade in this case went on the 
same lines, but King Leopold disregarded both. This condition of things was 
intolerable, and we should make it known that we would bear it no longer 
The foreign secretary had carried prudence as far as he could consistently 
carry it. The time had come for resolution. He hoped the right honorable 
gentleman would give some assurance that a forward step would now be taken. 
Surely the other signatories to the treaty were equallv moved with ourselves 
by the horrors of the Kongo. If they were not, then he hoped we would take 
such a resolute step as would instruct King Leopold that this nation was firm 
and consistent in its determination to put an end to these cruelties. [Cheers ] 
nf wl ^^^'^™?° (Wolverhampton, S.) said this was not an academic question 
of high, complicated, and delicate statecraft. It was a question of plain na- 



AFFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 61 

tional honor and, therefore, of plain national duty. [Cheers.] We were so 
much involved in this matter that any man among us who knew the facts must 
feel compelled to say, "My country is disgi'aced by them; I myself am dis- 
graced by them." It was, therefore, the duty of everyone to do what he could 
to strengthen the hands of the Government in taking action in the direction so 
ardently desired by the country. [Cheers.] We could make it clear that as a 
nation we had no ulterior object to serve. In the next place, we stood on an 
absolutely undeniable treaty right. In fact, as regarded treaty rights we stood 
in a preferential position, because our rights antedated even the Berlin act. 
Thirdly, if we moved in this matter, and our treaty rights had been absolutely 
ignored, we should run no risk of arousing the enmity of any foreign nation. 
When the Belgian people knew the facts the vast majority of the people of 
Belgium would hold the same view that we did. [Hear! hear!] Fourthly, the 
steps we were called upon to take were so simple that it was incomprehensible 
there should be so much reluctance to take them. Finally, we had the United 
States behind us. Lord Fitzmaurice in the House of Lords the other day said: 
" These debates go on, but no results are achieved." Too true. The only re- 
sult achieved was the appointment of one more British vice-consul. The difla- 
culties in Belgium were greater than they were, and the attitude of certain 
persons there more uncompromising. The people of England were deeply 
stirred by horrors which had blackened the face of the world. We incurred a 
much greater risk by waiting than by acting. If we permitted the Belgian peo- 
ple in ignorance to set their hands to a compact with which we, standing firm 
upon our treaty rights, could not deal, then the situation would become incom- 
parably more diificult and dangerous. Honorable members would remember 
the words of the despairing King, who said : " Words without thoughts never 
to Heaven go." In a matter like this words without action would accomplish 
nothing. [Hear! hear!] We owed it to our national honor and dignity, to 
one another, and to civilization, to face frankly this alternative — either to 
begin action or to stop talking. [Hear! hear!] 

Mr. G. H. Roberts (Norwich) said it was only right that the party with 
which he was associated should identify themselves with this motion. [Hear! 
hear !] He felt this was a fitting and opportune time for such a resolution to 
be considered, especially in view of the annexation proposals. The proposals 
for annexation would practically leave the present condition of things un- 
touched and the natives in their present position of servitude. When King 
Leopold took over the territory he was looked upon as the trustee of civiliza- 
tion. The State he was to rule would be, the Belgian Prime Minister said, an 
international colony without privileges, without monopolies, and with freedom 
for all, but in the result all this had been set aside, the undertakings in the 
convention and Berlin act had been flagrantly violated, and the country had 
been administered for the benefit of the King and his friends. At first ex- 
aggeration was suspected, but now the evidence left no doubt that revolting 
barbarities were practiced on the natives, and it was no exaggeration to say 
that a system of absolute slavery prevailed in the Kongo State, a system far 
worse than the slavery of old days, when the slave was at least assured of 
food and shelter. The Belgian proposal, even with the modifications and con- 
stitutional adjustments, would leave these conditions unaltered. The natives 
would be tied to continual labor for life. They existed for no other purpose 
than to provide revenue for the King and the companies established in the 
State. The party with whom he was associated regarded conditions in the 
Kongo as a gross invasion of human rights. The proposed compromise might 
save Belgium, but they felt that this country had a duty to perform in uphold- 
ing its treaty obligations, and a far higher duty to our common humanity. 
For these reasons he was glad to support the resolution. 

Mr. Gwynn (Galway) wished to make it clear that the sympathy of Catholic 
Ireland did not go out to King Leopold in this matter. They had no sympathy 
with the most appalling example of rack-renting on a grand scale that the world 
could show. Some Irishmen had taken a different view from their instinctive 
distrust of Great Britain, but he believed in the justice of Great Britain where 
this country was not concerned in administration. [A laugh.] Let it be made 
clear to the world that our advice was not going to point to our own political 
advantage. He gladly recognized that it was possible for England to intervene 
in the Kongo, now that the scheme of the Cape to Cairo Railway was at an end, 
without being suspected of an attempt to gain a definite political end. 

Sir F. Channing (Northants, E.) said the supporters of the motion did not 
want this debate to be a mere sequel in a long series of academic discussions 



62 AFFAmS IN THE KONGO. 

whicli had done nothing to improve the condition of the Kongo, to remove the 
stain on this country for its nonintervention, or to help the people of Belgium 
to ri<^ht themselves in the eves of the world by rendering a great service to 
humanity [Hear! hear!] He had never wholly agreed with his right hon- 
orable friend's view that, if annexation was carried out and the Belgian Par- 
liament was given power to deal with this question, the necessary reforms would 
be accomplished automatically. The history of this question ought to show 
his ri"-ht honorable friend that that argument would not bear close examination. 
That 'solution had been hurried forward in the Belgian Parliament by the im- 
pression that it was demanded by this country, and the King and his party had 
made use of that impression to some extent to bewilder and mislead the Belgian 
people upon this question. The Belgian people did not understand the conditions 
and the financial and political results of annexation as it was being carried out. 
In the discussions on the treaty of annexation there had been no appreciation 
of the vital issues involved. The real point that had been discussed between 
the Belijian Parliament and the King and the concessionnaires had been as to 
the disposal of the produce of the Domaine de la Couronne, and the vast treasure 
extorted from the misery and sufCering of these people had been used to debauch 
public opinion in Belgium. The only concession obtained by these discussions in 
Belgium was that the Belgian Parliament and people had been promised a share 
in the distribution of the spoils. As the friends of Belgium it was our moral 
duty to make it clear to the Belgian people that they must take up this ques- 
tion as a whole, and not on any false terms. They must understand that it 
would mean an economic loss to Belgium. They must not be allowed blindly to 
proceed with a solution which would lead by economic pressure to the perpetua- 
tion of the terrible system which alone would enable them to make ends meet. 
The unanimity and intensity of feeling of the House would strengthen the posi- 
tion of the Government, and he hoped the Secretary of State would use words 
to-night which would show that he had the weight of this great Empire behind 
him. 

Sir E. Grey (Northumberland, Berwick). I am, of course, well aware that the 
strength of feeling which has found expression in the House this evening is a 
feeling not confined to this House, but represents an equal strength of feeling in 
all parts of the country outside. [Opposition cheers.] It is not, I think, too 
much to say that no external question for at least thirty years has moved the 
country so strongly and so vehemently as this in regard to the Kongo. [Oppo- 
sition cheers.] It is not merely both sides of this House that share this feeling; 
it is both sides of the other House as well. [Hear ! hear !] The debate in the 
other House a short time ago covered the same ground and brought out the 
same expressions of feeling. There was no dissentient voice at all. [Cheers.] 
And I am glad that one honorable member has in this debate recognized the 
force and volume which is added to the discussion of the Kongo by Lord 
Cromer's intervention in another place. [Cheers.] I do not think the matter 
could be summed up more forcibly, considering Lord Cromer's great experience, 
than by recalling to the House the fact that in effect he said that in all his 
long and varied experience the system in the Kongo was the worst he had ever 
seen or of which he had ever heard. [Cheers.] But now my task is more 
difficult than that of any of those who haA^e spoken. I have to address myself 
to the practical side of the question, and I have also to do what I can to insure 
that the feelings and sentiments which have found expression in this House, 
and which we ourselves know are genuine and sincere, are not misunderstood 
elsewhere. [Hear! hear!] In the first place, there is no religious difficulty 
existing among the people on this question. [Hear ! hear !] It has been alleged 
that it has poisoned the controversy on previous occasions, and I welcome on 
that account especially the intervention of the honorable member for Galway, 
who has made it clear on this occasion in this House that it is not one particular 
section of Christianity which is represented, and that no religious difference of 
opinion affects our sentiments with regard to the problem, [Hear ! hear !] 

GREAT BRITAIN'S ATTITUDE. 

In the next place, I should like to make it clear that we do not claim on behalf 
of the people of this country any greater right or interest than is made on be- 
half of others, and that everything we say is said without prejudice. There is 
the interest of Belgium and of France, and the arrangement with Belgium 
giving her contingent preemption which, though arranged between her and 
Belgium, has been known pretty well for many years. I should like it to be 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 63 

understood, also, that anything we say and any action we may take is not intended 
to impair or belittle the legitimate claims of any other country in the Kongo, 
and that we have no desire to establish political or territorial claims for our- 
selves. [Cheers.] On the contrary, we not only do not desire to assume more 
responsibility, but we wish to avoid incurring it. I should like also to make this 
plain — that in the condemnation which we have expressed, and rightly expressed, 
there is nothing directed against Belgium itself. [Hear ! hear !] It has been 
too often alleged that our condemnation of the system of government in the 
Kongo is directly or indirectly a condemnation of Belgium. No one recognizes 
more fully than we do that Belgium up to the present moment has had no 
responsibility whatever in the things which have taken place in the Kongo. I 
go further than that, and I would call the attention of the House to the fact 
that once the question has been raised as to whether Belgium should or should 
not assume responsibility for the Kongo a real genuine expression on behalf 
of public opinion in Belgium has taken place of anxiety, apprehension, and 
indignation as to the state of affairs there. I am convinced of this also, that if 
Belgium is going to interest itself in the matter Belgian public opinion would 
feel as strongly and judge as rightly as any other public opinion, provided that 
it has full knowledge of the facts. [Cheers.] 

THE BELGIAN SOLUTION. 

We have always favored what has come to be known in debate as the Bel- 
gian solution, and I should like to consider for a moment why that has been so. 
The honorable member for Wolverhampton said that what was wanted was 
acts. Yes, sir, I agree; but what acts? The one action which really covers 
the whole ground which would be a satisfactory solution of the Kongo question 
is the transfer of the existing authority to some other authority. It can not 
be transferred to ourselves. We have no right to put forward our claim to 
assume responsibility for the Kongo, nor do we desire it. But without a trans- 
fer you will not get the question settled. The present existing authority is 
perfectly hopeless [cheers], and the policy of the Government has been directed 
to favoring and encouraging by any means in their power the real transfer 
from the existing authority of the Kongo to another which will accept it with 
a due regard to its responsibility. The natural transfer is from the present 
Sovereign of the Kongo State to Belgium. You can not pass that by without 
passing by the right of Belgium in the matter. If there is not a transfer to 
Belgium, then to whom else is it to be? Belgium has shown a disposition to 
assume responsibility, and if Belgium does not assume it, I do not know who 
else is going to assume it. I agree that if the Belgian Parliament should ac- 
cept the transfer of the Kongo State to the Belgian nation on terms which 
involve nominal responsibility without real control it would be exceedingly 
disastrous. [Cheers.] I do not believe that anything of the sort will take 
place. I can not believe that the Belgian Parliament would agree to accept 
responsibility for the government of the Kongo in the present state in which it 
is unless it was also to have a real and full control. I say at once that, as far 
as we are concerned, any semitra.nsfer of that kind which left the real control 
and the real executive in the power of the present authorities would not be one 
which we should regard as giving any satisfactory guaranty that treaty rights 
would be observed. [Cheers.] What we have to contemplate when we have 
spoken of the Belgian solution is a clear and thorough transfer, and that trans- 
fer should be such as to give real effective parliamentary control. This is a 
point that was emphasized by Lord Cromer in another place the other day. 
Given that, the other results that we desire may follow. In the first place, we 
gain this — that there will be a separation of the administrative from the 
trading element. That has been at the root of the whole mischief. [Cheers.] 
The State has been the trader. If you have a clean transfer to the Belgian 
Government, with full parliamentary control, that is stopped. Under any 
such transfer all revenue, all taxes, whether raised in money or in kind, will 
naturally be spent on the Kongo State itself. But I go further, and say we 
agree that it must be a condition precedent to any transfer of the Kongo to 
another authority that that authority should take it over on terms which will 
place it in a position to give assurances and to guarantee that those assurances 
shall be carried out and the treaty obligations fulfilled. But at present we do 
not know what those terms will be, and as far as we do know anything we 
know this— that there is a critical discussion going on between the Belgian 
Government and the Sovereign of the Kongo State as to what the terms shall 



g4 AFFAIES IF THE KONGO. 

be Tt is impossible for us to intervene officially between the Belgian Govern- 
ment and the Sovereign of the Kongo State in any way that is likely to pro- 
mote a satisfactory solution while that discussion is going on. When the Bel- 
gian Government proposes its own terms to Parliament, then we can express 
our oninion. [Cheers.] But as long as the matter in is solution between the 
Kin«- and the Belgian Government, I believe that official intervention on our 
part" would not contribute anything to a satisfactory solution. This debate 
and the publication of the White Paper may serve a good purpose in this re- 
spect It brings out clearly what the existing state of things in the Kongo is, 
and it makes it equally clear that if that state of things is to be put an end 
to— if the forced-labor system that Mr. Thesiger calls " veiled slavery " is to 
be put an end to— there will be probably at first a large falling off in the reve- 
nue, and a corresponding obligation on the part of the government of the 
Kongo to provide for the administration. 

THE NEED FOB CIRCUMSPECTION. 

No one can read that White paper without realizing that there is a very 
serious task before any government undertaking to reform the Kongo, and that 
it may be burdened at first with a very considerable financial liability. One 
honorable member repudiated the idea that we were in any way going to force 
the taking over of the Kongo on the Belgian Government. That only shows 
how unaccountable the misrepresentations of our intentions and actions are 
circulated abroad. I never heard before that it had ever been suggested that 
we dreamt of forcing anything on the Government. 

Mr. Leif Jones. It is a recognized fact in Belgium. 

Sir E. Grey. The fact that that has been in existence without my knowing it 
shows how extraordinarily one has to be on one's guard against misrepresenta- 
tions and misinterpretations of anything that has been said. I could never have 
believed it possible that such an idea could have gained credence in any quarter. 
Nothing could be further from our purpose than in any way to force the choice 
of the Belgian people in the matter. All that we desire — and that is why I 
have been chary of saying much on this question — is that the choice of the Bel- 
gian people should be absolutely free. But it is also equally desirable — in fact, 
it is essential to a free choice — that that choice should be made with full 
knowledge of the conditions in the Kongo at the present time. [Cheers.] For 
that reason I am glad that we have been able to publish now the reports that 
are before the House. I should be glad if every member of the House would 
read, at any rate, the very able summing up by Mr. Thesiger in the last paper 
as to the condition of affairs in the Kongo ; and I should be still more glad if it 
could be studied in Belgium as it is studied here. That report of Mr. Thesiger 
has nothing sensational about it. On the contrary, he says that atrocities 
have diminished and that the people in some districts are relieved by the 
present condition of things. But one can judge from that one paragraph in his 
dispatch how appalling the situation in the Kongo has been and still is. [Hear ! 
hear!] Mr. Thesiger says: "The system which gave rise to these abuses still 
continues unchanged, and so long as it is unaltered the condition of the natives 
must remain one of veiled slavery. Their own feeling at present seems to be 
one of relief that the former acts of violence and cruelty have so largely di- 
minished and that the sentry system has been altered ; but it is very largely the 
fear of a return to the former state of things that makes them endure the in- 
cessant work and hardship entailed on them by the labor tax with so little 
complaint except as regards the paucity of their remuneration." I do not know 
that you could have any stronger condemnation of what the government of the 
Kongo has been than that it should be said, in a calm and moderate dispatch, 
that the present state of things is felt by the natives to be a relief, when the 
present state of things is such as is described in the earlier passages 
[cheers] — where the forced labor is such that, in some parts, each woman has 
practically to work incessantly for twelve months in the year ; where, in other 
districts, under the most favorable conditions, two hundred and sixteen days a 
year are required for the men to collect the tax imposed, and where, in other 
districts again, the tax, which is assessed at forty hours' labor per month, 
makes the native work from twenty to twenty-five days out of every thirty, and 
where you find that, in some parts of the Kongo, where the amount of the tax 
has been reduced, it has not been reduced because it was regarded as excessive, 
but because, owing to the exhaustion of the district, it has become impossible 
to collect it. [Cheers.] 



AFFAIRS IN" THE KONGO. 65 

COOPERATION WITH THE POWERS. 

With regard to our own position in the matter, we have been invited to cooper- 
ate with the other powers. Nothing would give us greater pleasure ; but anyone 
vvho realizes the situation which we discussed yesterday evening will see that at 
the present moment it would be inexpedient for us to take the initiative in 
approaching other powers to ask them to take up another question. But if they 
desire to cooperate with us, if they but express their desire, we will most will- 
ingly cooperate with them and give them the chance of sharing an obligation 
that any of them may desire to take. Our own obligations are exceedingly 
heavy. They are, naturally, if you look at it from the point of view of British 
interests alone, from the foreign and colonial point of view, heavier than those 
of any other country. We have no desire to add to them other general obliga- 
tions, and we should only be too d^ighted in this matter to share our obligations 
with any other powers who are willing to undertake them. And I do welcome, 
more than I can say, the cooperation of the United States. [Cheers.] That, 
at any rate, we have, and the House can not value that too highly. [Cheers.] 
After all, the great weapon which has been of value in the Kongo controversy 
so far has been publicity, but it has been left to us alone to give that publicity, 
and we have been suspected from time to time of interested motives. Now the 
United States has, through its consul-general, come to support us in this matter. 
[Cheers.] The United States is above any suspicion, any possible taint of 
suspicion, of interested motives in this matter, and the fact that the United 
States consul-general has issued a report, from which, by the permission of 
the United States Government, we quote extracts in our own paper — which is, 
in itself, evidence of the close cooperation between us — and which I hope the 
United States Government will publish, corroborating everything which we have 
said with regard to the government of the Kongo, is a fact which must influence 
the public opinion of Europe. [Cheers.] I can only say that we rejoice that 
we should be found working with the United States in such a cause as this, 
and I trust that the cooperation which has already begun between our ministers 
will be continued and carried further. [Cheers.] In dealing with another 
subject yesterday evening, I had occasion to speak of the impossibility of taking 
isolated action which would be effective. I do not place any such limitations 
upon us in regard to the matter of the Kongo. [Cheers.] But it must be borne 
in mind that the amount of good which we might be able to do in the matter 
by isolated action is limited and that our power for good is vastly increased 
by cooperation with other powers. Separate action we are prepared to take on 
behalf of British treaty rights or British interests. [Cheers.] 

TREATY EIGHTS. 

Lord Fitzmaurice, speaking in another place the other day, referred to one 
difficulty in which we are intimately concerned— the difficulty of obtaining sites 
which missionaries want for their chapels and other purposes connected with 
their missions; and he said that the reply of the Kongo Government to us on 
this matter had been unsatisfactory. The reply of the Kongo Government has 
been that, with annexation by Belgium in prospect, it is not prepared to alien- 
ate part of their territory. In a matter of this kind of missionary sites, con- 
sidering all that has taken place, I do not consider that that is a very satis- 
factory reply. [Hear ! hear !] But I have agreed that at the present moment 
we would wait till the Belgian session closes, which is, I think, at the end of 
May, to see what the Belgian Government and the Belgian Parliament are 
going to do in the matter. If it becomes clear from the present session of the 
Belgian Parliament that Belgium is going to take the Kongo over on satis- 
factory terms, then with regard to such a question as this of mission sites, or 
other questions which we may have to raise, we shall look to her, as we_ should 
look to any friendly or civilized government, and we shall discuss with her 
questions arising out of our treaty rights in the same way that we should dis- 
cuss them with any other friendly and civilized government. But assuming 
that this does not take place, and that after the close of the present Belgian 
session we have to deal with the existing Government of the Kongo unchanged, 
then we must be free to deal with questions of this kind or others which may 
arise out of our treaty rights in our own way. [Cheers.] I am not anxious 
to put trading questions in the foreground. Things are so bad that the trading 
and commercial aspect is really subordinate to questions of humanity. We 

4251— S. Doc, 147, 61-1 5 



66 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

shall, of course, stand upon our treaty rights under the Berlin act and our 
treaty rights which originated in the recognition of the International Associa- 
tion of the Kongo in 1884. But when you come to a state of things such as 
that disclosed in the papers now before the House, you are dealing really with 
something which amounts to slavery, which can not be regarded only from the 
point of view of treaty rights. [Cheers.] It is a violation of the ordinary 
rules of civilized government. I agree that no isolated action on our part can 
cure or radically alter the whole system in the Kongo State. We may increase 
our consuls, we may give them means of transport, we may go so far as to es- 
tablish consular jurisdiction. But even when we have done all that we have 
not secured an alteration of the system under which the Kongo is governed. 
But I would ask the House to believe that if I speak with hesitation as to the 
action which we may be able to take it is not because I am at all satisfied with 
those measures which I have already indicated. It is because I am anxious to 
discover, if I can, any further means of bringing pressure to bear upon the 
Kongo Government. But the matter is exceedingly difficult. Treaty rights 
have been referred to. It is easy to quote one passage out of various treaties 
by which the Kongo State is bound, but you find that the whole network of 
treaty obligations surrounding the Kongo is exceedingly complicated, and where 
you would like to act on one clause, you find another clause makes it exceed- 
ingly -difficult. Take, for instance, the suggestion of my honorable friend the 
member for Norfolk that we shold go so far as to intercept the produce com- 
ing from the Kongo. I gathered that what was in his mind was that we should 
say this produce from the Kongo is the produce of slave labor, and that, as 
such, it is a trade which we are entitled to intercept, and which should not be 
carried on. The Kongo is by one of these very treaties a river which is in- 
ternationally open to free navigation, and you can not interfere with free navi- 
gation on the Kongo which is passing under a neutral flag. Tou are bound by 
international obligations not to interfere with the Kongo. Though I do not 
say, by any means, that when we have dealt with the consular question we 
have exhausted all the measures which may be at our disposal to put pressure 
on the Kongo, still I say it is a matter in which you must move exceedingly 
careful, and before I can go so far as to hold out to the House an expecta- 
tion that we could go beyond the measures which were Indicated in the debate 
in another place the other day, and which have been indicated here this evening, 
we shall have very carefully to consider what our treaty rights are. 

SOME SUGGESTIONS. 

But the history of the question, from the foundation of the Kongo State^ 
founded to create freedom of trade and to civilize and benefit the natives — 
does give rise to some suggestions. At first the State undertook not to impose 
any import duties at all. Later on an agreement was come to under which it 
was to be entitled to impose import duties to repay it the necessary expenditure 
upon the moral and material welfare of the natives. [Laughter.] The noble 
lord opposite suggested on a previous occasion that, if Belgium took over the 
Kongo and found that the financial difficulties were considerable, we might 
express our readiness to come to her relief by agreeing to a revision of those 
duties in order to provide her with a larger revenue. I am quite willing to 
take that into consideration should Belgium take the Kongo over on satisfactory 
terms and should she desire some advantage of that kind for those purposes. 
It has occurred to me also that we might take the other point of view, and if 
Belgium does not take over the Kongo we might after all raise the question 
whether the consent which we gave to these import duties has not been given 
upon false pretenses. [Cheers.] Now that it has become clear that there is 
no freedom of trade and that, instead of the country being developed for the 
benefit of the natives and the revenue raised by import duties or otherwise being 
spent entirely for the benefit of the community, the country is being exploited by 
forced labor, and the result of the administration has been to secure large profits 
sent outside the country, we might consider whether we should not raise the 
question as to whether our consent to the import duties had not been given 
under false pretenses and whether our consent is still binding. Coming down to 
more recent years, we have the Kongo commission report, followed by the 
promise of refol-ms, and we have the state of things which is now disclosed 
in the reports of the British and United States consuls. If you review the his- 
tory of the hopes and aspirations with which consent was given to the foninda- 
tion of the Kongo State, you can not but come to the concfuslon t^at the State 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 67 

as it exists to-day has morally forfeited every right to international recognition 
[Cheers.] I trust and believe that if Belgium decides to take over the Kongo 
she will do it with full knowledge and on satisfactory terms; but, should she 
not so decide, the question of the Kongo has, in face of the full knowledge 
which we now have, in face of the hopelessness of expecting reforms from the 
present administration, entered upon a new stage. There have been results 
from debates in this house and from the publicity which has been secured by 
our action. One of these results, I think, is the present proposal that the 
Kongo should be transferred at all. But for the publicity we have given, and 
but for our debates, I doubt whether there would have been any question 
at this moment of transferring the Kongo State at all from the existing authority 
to another. But, whatever the result may be, whether Belgium decides to accept 
responsibility, or whether we have to take up the question in a short time and 
continue to deal with the existing state of affairs in the spirit in which I 
have indicated we shall deal with it if necessary, I can only assure the House 
that the Government shares the strength of feeling which exists in this coun- 
try; that they will do their utmost to find means by which that strength of 
feeling may receive practical expression and secure practical results in the re- 
form of the condition of affairs in the Kongo. And we are quite willing, 
believing that every word in the resolution is thoroughly justified, to accept the 
resolution. [Cheers.] 

Earl Percy (Kensington, S.) welcomed the explicit statement of the right 
honorable gentleman that the Belgian solution meant an absolute guaranty that 
under annexation the whole of the administration in the Kongo, from top to 
))ottom, would be subject to full parliamentary control. Once that control 
was secured, other reforms would follow as a matter of course. In view of the 
financial embarrassment in which the Belgian Government might be placed by 
a policy which involved the abolition of the present concessionary system, he 
was glad the right honorable gentleman was prepared to consider impartially 
a revision of the customs duties. He did not think the British Government 
could give a clearer proof that the motive which chiefly animated us was not 
connected with our trading interests, but was purely humanitarian. [Cheers.] 
He could only hope that, in view of this tangible proof of British good will 
and our desire to assist the Belgian people in extricating themselves from any 
possible financial embarrassment, public opinion in Belgium would now defi- 
nitely range itself on the side of public opinion in Great Britain and in America, 
and would insist that a system of slavery should be allowed no longer to shelter 
itself under the folds of a Christian flag. [Cheers.] 

The resolution was agreed to amid cheers. 



No. 41. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No, 301.] American Legation, 

Brussels, February 27, 1908. 

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith translations of edi- 
torials which appeared in the Independance Beige on February 24 
and 26, respectively. 

* * * The tone of these editorials suggests a desire to convey 
the impression that an unwarrantable and an unjustified pressure is 
being exerted by the Government of Great Britain in the procure- 
ment of a solution of the question of the Kongo annexation to the 
advantage of British interests, but incompatible with the dignity and 
honor of the Belgian people. 

Articles similar in character have appeared in other journals, but 
those transmitted serve to show the drift of press opinion. 



I have, etc. 



Henry Lane Wilson. 



68 AFFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 

[Inclosure. — Translation.] 
Editorial from the Independance Beige, FeJyruary 21,, 1908. 

The lull wliich appeared to have surveued iu the campaign led for years by 
certain English elements against the Independent State of the Kongo has not 
lasted and it was not suflBcieut that the Government, through Sir Edward Grey 
himself made known that it agreed to await the results of the negotiations 
between Belgium and the Independent State, to calm those who were influenced 
by the propaganda of the "Kongo Reform Association." The meeting held 
in Queen's Hall, the debates announced in the House of Lords and in the 
House of Commons, the language of a section of the press— in fact, all the 
ingeniously combined demonstrations produce in England a particular condi- 
tion which must strongly affect political parties. It would be idle to deny 
that the anti-Kongolese agitation has gained ground and that it has finally 
invaded circles which hitherto appeared to have been completely indifferent. 
In the beginning the agitation was confined to a few Liverpool merchants solely 
engrossed in their commercial interests, but by a constant repetition of the 
humanitarian argument it became possible to stir up some elements whose 
disinterestedness can not be suspected. To the missionary element is due a great 
part of the results of this propaganda. Their religious character gives them 
a hold upon certain classes of citizens, who would not, merely in the interests 
of commercial protection, manifest their hostility to a State of whose organization 
and political life they are totally ignorant; but they have from all sides been 
told that the Kongo is the hell of the black, the cursed land where the negroes 
are hunted down and tortured; they have been told stories of hands chopped 
off, of unmentionable violences. To convince them, striking slogans have been 
invented, as, for instance, " bloody rubber," in such way to move profoundly 
the ancient sentimentalism of the English soul and to succeed in creating 
one of those movements which rouses people to noble crusades. All this is 
superficial and far from right; it all rests in fact on words only. It is, how- 
ever, none the less true that this movement exists and that few of the Eng- 
lishmen in authority having at heart the maintenance of their influence and 
positions dare oppose it. There are found those, and their number is not a 
minority, who agree that these " atrocities " are exaggerated, if not pure 
inventions; that the members of the Kongo Reform Association have struck 
a false note, and that their systematic campaign is not at all respectable. But 
the latter still insist upon, in spite of all appearances, the sincerity of the 
humanitarian impulse which impels the English people to oppose the Kongo 
State and to demand what can not be styled other than the dispossession of 
King Leopold. 

If one were to express surprise at seeing those so imbued with humanitarian- 
ism crying out against the Kongolese regime, while they tolerate a character 
in the English domination of certain countries — in South Africa, India, and 
elsewhere — which is far from humanitarian, he would receive the reply that 
"it is not the same thing; " that the severities of the English administration 
have not the object of exploitation, and that they are not the results of the 
regime itself. Thus, the story of the mote and the beam is found again in the 
English views concerning the Kongo, and no reasoning could iduce these hu- 
manitarians to admit that they are not defending the truth alone, and that in 
this matter they are not the heroic champions of goodness and justice. 

The English opinion is warped in regard to the Kongo because it is the out- 
growth of reasons of a sentimental character; it is warped because the teary 
humanitarianism of the missionaries has been ingeniously combined with the 
interests of the merchants, which, under the present regime, do not find in the 
Kongo all the advantages they coA'et there ; but it is especially warped because, 
,aside from this sentimentalism and these interests, national pride is hurt by 
the resistance opposed to any English pressure. A great people, accustomed to 
compete in politics with other great nations, can not admit that an infinitely 
weak people could ignore its infiuence. This is not the result of arrogance, nor 
of contempt of equity ; it is the result of a species of exaggerated self-esteem, 
extremely dangerous, which prevents seeing matters in their right light. 

A great power like England, endeavoring for many years to modify by con- 
stant pressure the existing condition of a small State and not reaching its goal, 
is inclined to resent it— and then we see that great nation, believing its prestige 
hurt, distorting the truth, delighting in subtile interpretations of texts, losing 
the just notion of things, solely because its prestige demands imperiously that it 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 69 

should have the last word. Thus, the anti-Kongolese agitation, in the beginning 
entirely factitious, has become a reality in England ; thus, the religious element 
after the commercial, the political after the press element, and finally the govern- 
mental circles themselves have been influenced, won over, drawn into a move- 
ment which in principle can not be justified. It is not the first time that such 
a phenomena has been produced ; the agitation against the Boers did not begin 
otherwise, and they were sincere, those Englishmen who desired more rights 
for the Uitlanders. They did not wish a war ; they did not dream of any con- 
quest — this war and this conquest were natural results of the fact that the 
great financiers, ambitious to possess the mines of the Rand, had the power to 
direct, without detection and from a distance, public opinion. Mr. Morel said 
Friday at Queen's Hall that the British conscience ought to count for something 
in world politics. It will not count then for anything except in exerting pressure 
on the consciences of other nations— that is to say, in ignoring the right of 
every free people to arrange their own affairs and interests to the best advan- 
tage. It is the imperialistic exaggeration which unveils itself, and it is in the 
name of this necessity of making the British conscience supreme in world 
politics that every act of injustice and brutality will be excused. 

Once embarked on so dangerous a road, who knows where they will pause? 
When the resolutions passed at the London meeting are closely examined, it 
appears that there is in these manifestations of public opinion an incoherent 
contradiction. 

In the beginning nothing was demanded from the Government of the Inde- 
pendent State but the recognition of the English interpretation of the general 
act of Berlin. There was no question following except the realization of cer- 
tain practical reforms. Very soon afterwards the idea arose of the suppres- 
sion of the Independent State and its annexation to Belgium, conformably to 
the right of the latter to take over the colonial work of the King. Now the 
question of annexation is not considered unless Belgium accepts the conditions 
which the English may desire to impose. These different stages and successive 
advances have done much to excite the apprehension of the Belgian people. It 
is true that the English Government has never ofiicially formulated these de- 
mands, but when it is noted that it cedes little by little to the pressure of the 
Kongo Reform Association, may it not be believed with certainy that to-mor- 
row it will only need some pretext to cross this last boundary? Belgium is a 
little country, very sensible of its rights and its duties. During the seventy- 
seven years of its independent existence it has never evaded its international 
obligations or committed a political crime against right or humanity. If Bel- 
gium annexes the Kongo, it may be held as certain that she will scrupulously 
respect in letter and in spirit the articles of the general act of Berlin, and that 
she will continue there, as here, the work of civilization. It is only just to 
say that it has never been necessary to drive the Belgians along the paths of 
moral and material progress, where they have sometimes given worthy lessons 
to others. Belgium will then be as fully alive to its duties in the Kongo as 
England could be, and it is unnecessary therefore that there should be any 
conditions imposed in connection with annexation. Any pressure of that kind 
would have the character of a useless irritation, of a brutal humiliation which 
the Belgian people could not tolerate. We only wish to exercise our strict 
rights, but we claim that these rights remain in their entirety, and if, as a 
free people, we engage in the colonial work, we do not wish to begin under the 
tutelage of any other nation. The Kongo can not be an international colony 
should Belgium assume its administration ; it should be a Belgian colony, 
neither more nor less — a colony of which the administration and improvement 
should rest only on the responsibility of Belgium. For us, who have defended 
for so many years in these columns the Kongolese work, who have never 
doubted its future, it would be preferable to see Belgium refuse to harvest the 
fruits of the long and diligent efforts of its King than to witness the annexation 
of the Kongo under circumstances which would admit in principle the English 
tutelage, which would become a constant menace of intervention, and which 
would rob us of full liberty of action in the management of our own affairs. 
Dignity is indispensable in the political life of any independent nation. It can 
not be that liberal England would ignore these elemental truths. 

It is not necessary, then, to disguise the fact that the present hour is grave 
for us, and that it is necessary to prevent as far as possible the complete sub- 
mersion of English governmental circles under the evil current which exists 
there. If matters should become more complicated our good right might not 
finally prevail against force, since it is a great misfortune in our epoch of civili- 
zation, of progress, of pacification, and of humanitarianism to be a little power 



70 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

the voice of whose diplomats can not, in case of need, be supported by the voice 
of cannon The best means which we have of efficiently safeguarding our inter- 
ests and of assuring our future is to hasten the annexation. In politics the 
accomplished fact only counts, because it gives everything a new aspect which 
lessens happily the rancors and the hatreds to which old difficulties have given 
birth 'The annexation finished, the campaign of the Kongo Reform Association 
will very naturally lose its false importance and will not have the power to 
so profoundly agitate English public opinion. 

In any case, the British Government will then be in a better position to resist 
the pressure of those who in England, from impractical humanitarianism or 
mad sentimentalism, aim more at the depossession of King Leopold than the 
improvement of the condition of the negroes. It is important, then, at any 
price, to hurry the annexation of the Kongo to Belgium and thereby finish the 
discussions which have ceased to relate to essential points, now that the formula 
of the Foundation of the Crown is disposed of, and there only remains the neces- 
sity of arranging the details, of which the admission or the rejection can not 
exercise any serious influence upon the conditions under which Belgium proposes 
to engage in colonial work. 

[Inclosure. — Translation.] 
Editorial of Ind6pendance Beige, FeTiruary 26, 1908. 

The English House of Lords reached, Monday evening, the discussion of the 
Kongo question announced some time ago, and which in advance was considered 
to have a great importance. In fact, the speeches which were delivered on that 
occasion merit the closest attention as well for their general tone as for the 
personal authority of those who risked such serious utterances. Judging from 
the telegraphic account thereof, which we publish elsewhere, the argument set 
forth by Lord Mayo, Lord Cromer, and the Archbishop of Canterbury to justify 
English intervention in Kongo matters are of another category than those by 
which irresponsible elements have constantly incited English public opinion 
against the Independent State of the Kongo — that is to say, it must not be con- 
cealed that these speeches reveal among the English administrative elements a 
condition of mind indicating a real danger. Lord Cromer was especially ag- 
gressive, attacking the very elements of the organization of the Independent 
State. He discarded the idea of a new appeal to the powers, but he upheld 
the direct action of England in advising the Government to make use of its 
right, under the treaty of 1SS5, to give judiciary powers to English consuls in 
the Kongo. We have already shown that this right is accorded to England 
only in the event of Kongo justice being ineffective; but the fact that since 
1885 the English Government has not thought it necessary to make use of this 
right evidently implies the recognition that the judicial organization of the 
Kongo is adequate to all requirements. It would appear all the more unjust, 
therefore, to invoke this right, now that serious efforts have been made to as- 
sure the normal working of the judiciary in all possessions of the state. 

What is no less striking is that Lord Cromer and the Archibshop of Canter- 
bury stated that the annexation of the Kongo by Belgium, as it is now pro- 
posed, does not accord with the views expressed in the speech from the Eng- 
lish Throne, in that it allows the old regime to exist. Lord Fitzmaurice, par- 
liamentary secretary for tlie foreign office, refuted this essential point. As the 
London Government has, up to the present, insisted on this point, he laid stress 
on the foreign and domestic difficulties which the problem of annexation pre- 
sents for Belgium. Progi-ess had been slow but sure, for to-day the principle 
of annexation is clearly laid down. The telegraphic accounts make Lord Fitz- 
maurice say that the principle of annexation was voted in December, 1906. 
That is evidently an error, for no vote of this nature has yet been taken in the 
Belgian Parliament. A final vote regarding annexation can only be reached 
when there is a perfect agreement concerning the treaty of transfer and the 
colonial regime. That point has not been reached as yet, and therefore they 
are too previous in England in saying that the conditions of annexation are in- 
acceptable. At this moment no one is able to say exactly what will be the final 
basis of the regime which Belgium intends to establish in the Kongo upon its 
becoming her colony. 

Lord Fitzmaurice repeatedly insisted that care should be taken not to say 
anything which could be construed as a criticism of the statesmen or Parlia- 
ment of Belgium; but immediately after, the honorable parliamentary secre- 



ATFAIRS IN THE KONGO. Yl 

tary of the foreign office averred that formerly Mr. Beernaert, while premier 
showed the very best intentions, but that " influences outside the Government' 
Parliament, and the Belgian people had always prevented him and his suc- 
cessors from putting their ideas into practice." That is a very grave insinua- 
tion to come from a member of the English cabinet. To what influences 
' outside the Government, Parriament, and the Belgian people" does this refer"? 
Outside these three elements there is only one which can influence Bel°-ian 
ministers— that is, the Crown— and it is astonishing that a member of the 
English Government, speaking officially in the House of Lords, permits himself 
contrary to all customs, to introduce thus in a speech the name of a foreign 
ruler. One confesses that Belgian public opinion is justified in being incensed 
at such language, and that therefore it will greet with a certain lack of con- 
fidence the advice given by Lord Fitzmaurice to the English to do nothing in 
the Kongo matter which could be construed in the nature of an illegitimate 
pressure on Belgium. 

Special notice should be paid to the official assertion by the parliamentary 
secretary of the foreign office that the United States already made common 
cause with England concerning the Kongo, and that the American minister 
and the minister of Great Britain accredited to Brussels were in communica- 
tion with each other regarding everything relating to Kongo affairs. For a 
long time we have been menaced by this intervention on the part of the Wash- 
ington Government, which was the first to recognize the Kongo flag and which 
was unwilling to sign the general act of Berlin under the pretext that the act 
regulated the situation in the conventional basin of the Kongo where the United 
States had no interests. To-day things show a different face, and the American 
and English representatives act in accord with one another. It is the begin- 
ning of the international pressure for which London has never ceased to hope, 
and which we have always refused to believe possible because it can only work 
, contrary to all equity and justice. 

All this is not done to give to the Belgian mind the indispensable calm nec- 
essary for a fair solution of this grave problem. Lord Fitzmaurice has re- 
peated once too often that it was wrong to attribute to the English Govern- 
ment any hidden thought, purely selflsh, of terriorial or commercial gains. We 
know, on our side, that if such are the secret desires of certain elements the 
English Government has not been guided thus far by views of this kind. As- 
suming therefore that it desires the annexation of the Kongo to Belgium as 
much as we desire it ourselves, it should remember that this annexation can 
not be made under normal conditions unless the dignity of the Belgian people is 
respected and they are left free in their acts. The English Government should 
understand that the Belgian people are conscious that the Kongo, after having 
become a Belgian colony, can not be governed by the same methods which have 
been employed by the independent State. The period of development itself 
which the Kongo has reached makes obligatory practical methods by which 
-the most serious responsibilities of humanity may be reconciled with the vital 
interests of the colony and Belgium. Discussion of this point is superfluous, 
but it is necessary to admit that the responsibility rests with Belgium — con- 
scious of her duty, of her interests and resources — to fix the basis of a new 
regime which will have the purpose of establishing in the Kongo its control and 
its responsibility. This is a point upon which Belgians, whatever be their 
views on the Kongolese question, can not differ. 

It is necessary that it should be understood at London that if annexation is 
sincerely wished all intimidation, direct or indirect, addressed to Belgium — 
sole mistress of her destiny— should be avoided. If this is not understood 
there will be a possibility of dangerously complicating matters and of weak- 
ening in Belgium itself the action of those who are working with all their 
energy and good will to make of the annexation of the Kongo a sound and loyal 
work. 

No. 42. 

Charge Carter to the Secretary of State. 

No. 545.— Confidential.] American Embassy, 

London^ February £8, 1908. 

Sir: Sir Edward Grey sent for me this morning to come to the 
foreign office, as he wished to add a few explanations to you after the 



72 APi'AIKS IN THE KONGO. 

debate of this week in the House of Lords and the House of Commons 
on the subject of the Kongo, and to define his position more clearly. 

He said that it was his purpose now to wait and to do nothing more 
until the proposals of the Belgian Government were laid before the 
Belgian Parliament, and it entirely depended upon the nature of these 
proposals what his future action would be. If they were unsatisfac- 
tory in their nature and not in accordance with the views of His 
Majesty's Govermnent, which were ]3ractically the same as ours, he 
would consider it necessary to make further representations to the 
Belgian Government on the basis of the reports of our consuls in the 
Kongo, and this he hoped would be a joint representation of both our 
Governments, and to that end he would duly inform you of the line 
he proposed to take, so that the representations in question might be 
identical. 

He said he welcomed the fact of our working together in this 
matter, and that the amount of good we were able to do in the Kongo 
was vastly increased and far greater than their isolated action would 
be — our action being disinterested was open to no suspicion in any 
quarter — and that he was prepared to go with us as far as we would 
wish. 

I have, etc., John Ridgely Carter. 



No. 43. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Legation, 
Brussels, March 6, 1908. 

By treaty of annexation just laid before Parliament, the domain 
of the Crown is suppressed and all of its holdings in Europe and 
Africa are transferred to Belgium. Control of Kongo budget placed 
in the hands of Belgian Parliament. A special fund of $9,000,000 
is to be applied to completing projects of the King already inaugu- 
rated, and in token of national gratitude a special fund of $10,000,0'00. 
payable in fifteen annual installments, is placed at the disposal of 
the King to carry out future projects. 

Treaty of annexation will probably be adopted after consideration 
by committee. 

Wilson. 



No. M. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 306.] American Legation, 

Brussels, March 9, 1908. 
^^fl^ ^11^ ?? ^^^^^^ *^ transmit herewith three copies of Docu- 
ment Wo. 129 of the House of Representatives, which contains the bill 
approving the additional act for the annexation of the Independent 
fetate or the Kongo to Belgium. 



AFFAIBS m THE KONGO. 73 

The "expose des motifs" (statement of ministry), the project of 
law, the additional act of annexation, and the royal decree suppress- 
fng the Foundation of the Crown have been translated, and the trans- 
lations are inclosed herewith. 

The five annexes, supplemental to the treaty, and which are in the 
nature of exhibits, it has not been deemed necessary to translate, as 
the information contained in them is obvious in the French text, and 
portions of them can be of little value to the department. 
I have, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure to Dispatch No. 306. — Translation of Inclosure No. 1.] 

Bill approving the uikUiionaJ act to the treaty of annexation of the Independent 
State of the Kongo to Belgium. 

*' EXPOSE DES MOTIFS." 
[Statement of ministry.] 

Gentlemen : On the 14tli of January, 1908, when we presented ourselves for 
the first time to you, we had the honor, in the declaration which we then 
made, of noting that the tenor of the treaty of annexation of the Kongo by 
Belgium had given rise to some apprehensions, and we announced our desire to 
meet objections which we judged well founded by the introduction of certain 
modifications. 

Negotiations were thereupon opened with the Independent State of the Kongo. 
These had for their object the elimination of the civil personality of the 
foundation of the Crown, the gi'anting of the property of said foundation by its 
founder to the private domain of the State, and finally the conclusion of an 
additional convention between Belgium and the Kongo State determining the 
obligations which, in the future, should rest upon the mother country and the 
colony. 

We had the assurance of meeting your views in asking that the obligations 
created by the foundation of the Crown, in which Belgium is equally interested, 
should be placed to her charge. We desired also to know the works, the 
execution of which was in contemplation, with an approximate estimate of 
their cost. 

On the 4th of February the negotiations had taken so favorable a turn that 
we were able to request the Commission of Seventeen to adjourn its work until 
such time as we would be able to transmit to it the additional convention, the 
conclusion of which was assured. 

The pourparlers were continued, and on the 24th of February we addressed 
to the Sovereign King the following letter : 

" Sir : At the moment when the Chambers are about to vote upon the treaty 
of annexation of the Kongo to Belgium we have the honor to make known very 
respectfully to Your Majesty, after having rendered homage to the high and 
patriotic views which have governed you in establishing the foundation of the 
Crown, that these views are not generally understood. 

" We advise Your Majesty to consent to eliminate from said foundation the 
civil personality and, by a new act of munificence, to order that the property 
which has hitherto belonged to the foundation should be transferred to the 
private domain of our future colony, which will thereby hold the foundation 
absolved and free of all obligation. 

" If it is agreeable to the King to accede to our request, it follows naturally 
that the obligations and the engagements of the foundation will be respected. 

" The country would hold it an honor, we are sure, to assume the payment of 
all sums owed by the foundation and to meet the engagements contracted 
by It in which Belgium is especially interested. 

"An additional act to the treaty of November 28, 1907, should show in a pre- 
cise manner the obligations which from this transaction will fall upon the 



74 AFPAIKS IN THE KONGO. 

mother couutry. The same act should indicate clearly the obligations which 
will fall upon the Kongo. . 

"According to our views the sums at present due, for which Belgium should 
be recognized as responsible, should be immediately liquidated. Lilvewise, in 
carrying out the works in process of construction and those under contract, 
Belgium should take the place of the foundation. A special fund should be 
created, of which the sum total should be irrevocably appropriated to the pay- 
ment of these works ; these payments should be placed under the control of the 
court of accounts. 

" On the other hand, the budget of the colony should be looked to to support 
the past and future expenses made on its account, and also the cost of that part 
of the liquidation of the foundation of the Crown in which it is interested. 

"Finally, a capital of 50,000,000 francs, payable in fifteen installments, of 
which the first should be 3,800,000 francs, and each of the other fourteen 3,300,000 
francs, should be established, in token of gratitude to Your Majesty, by the 
Kongo. 

" The disposition of this capital shall be directed by the King during his life- 
time, or by his successors afterwards, to Kongo objects and to different works in 
favor of the Kongo, whether for the profit and well-being of the natives or to the 
advantage of the whites who have rendered good service in Africa." 

The Sovereign King acceded to our request and issued, under date of March 5, 
a decree abolishing the civil personality of the foundation of the Crown and 
transferring to the private domain of the State all of the possessions in Africa, 
reserving only the two blocks of land of 20,000 hectares in the Mayumbe where 
experiments in the culture of rubber are being made, and the possessions in 
Europe enumerated in Annex I of the additional convention ; but for a part of 
these mentioned in the annex the revenue is retained. 

These possessions are already destined to the State to meet the debt of 
12,000,000 francs which the foundation of the Crown yet owes it. 

The charges incumbent on the foundation and which ought to be assumed by 
the State are in this manner considerably reduced; the annexes set forth all 
those which still exist. 

Finally, a fund of 50,000,000 francs is created. Said fund is assigned to the 
Sovereign in testimony of gratitude for all the great sacrifices which he has 
made in favor of the Kongo. 

It will be paid to him in fifteen annual installments, the first of 3,800,000 
francs and the others of 3,300,000 francs each. This fund will be entirely 
consecrated by the Sovereign in carrying out his plans relative to the Kongo 
and in works in favor of the colony, such as the construction of hospitals, 
schools for the instruction and the education of negroes, the expenses of scien- 
tific missions, the establishing of institutions for the prevention and cure of 
sleeping sickness, the aid of missions, and of works in favor of the whites who 
have rendered good service in Africa. 

Following this decree we concluded with the Kongo State an additional con- 
vention, the purpose of which was to determine in a precise manner the rights 
and the obligations of the mother country and of the colony whenever the 
treaty of annexation shall have been adopted. 

The possessions of the foundation situated in Europe and set forth in the 
annexes are transferred to Belgium, but she must assume responsibility for the 
sums due in Europe from the foundation. These sums amount to 1,118,000 
francs. 

Belgium assumes the rights and obligations of the foundation in contracts for 
works in process or projected ; the same are enumerated in the annexes. 

The initiation of no new works is required. The only works to be continued 
are those of Laeken, the roads of Meysse, of the Heysel and Ostend, and the 
rearrangement of the Hotel Belle-Vue. 

These will be carried out as usual under the direction of the State and the 
payments will be made under control of the court of accounts. 

The total cost of these works is estimated at 45,000,000 francs. 

Belgium will have, on the other hand, to face in the future the annuities yet 
due for the Rue Coudenberg purchases, which amount yet to 595,454 francs. 

The Chamber will appreciate the importance of the concessions obtained. 
A just homage of respectful gratitude is due to the. founder of the Kongo 
State. He has renounced his personal views to assist Belgium in reaping the 
benefit of the work to which he has devoted so many years. 

The bill of annexation, which is at present submitted to you, takes account 
of the objections which have been raised. 



AFFAIES IK THE KONGO. 'jg 

We are carrying on here a national work. From the beginning we have 
appealed to the good will of all to momentarily forget the differences and the 
divisions of parties. 

We have the firm confidence that you will understand the appeal, and that a 
patriotic accord will be established among us to solve the important question 
which is submitted to you. vi ^ ui^ 



[Inclosure to dispatch No. 306. — Translation of inclosure 1.] 
Project of law. 

LEOPOLD, KING OF THE BELGIANS. 

To whom it may concern, greeting: 

Upon the advice of our council of ministers, we have decreed and decree* 

Our ministers of (enumeration of ministers). 

Article unique. The additional act hereto annexed to the treaty of annexa- 
tion of November 28, 1907, between Belgium and the Independent State of the 
Kongo, is approved and signed the 5th of March, 1908. 

Given at Brussels, March 5, 1908. Leopold. 

(Enumeration of ministerial attestations.) 



[Inclosure to dispatch No. 306 — Translation of inclosure No. l.'J 

Additional act to the treaty of annexation of the Independent State of the 

Kongo to Belgium. 

Between Belgium, represented by , acting under reserve of ap- 
proval by the legislature, and the Independent State of the Kongo, represented 
by , the following is agreed upon : 

Article 1. 

The first article of the treaty of annexation of the 28th of November, 1907, 
does not apply to the foundation of the Crown as defined in No. IV of Annex 
A of the treaty ; the provisions embodied in the document joined to the Annex 
A under numbers 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, and 31 are abrogated. 

Article 2. 

No. IV of Annex A to the treaty relative to the reservation of properties in 
favor of the foundation of the Crown is abrogated. 

The properties which have hitherto been held under the name of foundation 
of the Crown will, in case of the adoption of the treaty, be ceded to the private 
domain of the State, conformably to a decree of March 5, 1908, hereto annexed, 
without putting into force the clause stipulated for their purchase in article 7 
of the convention of December 22, 1906. 

This cession is encumbered with the charges indicated in the annexes of the 
aforesaid decree of March 5, 1908. 

Article 8. 

Moreover, that which follows has been agreed upon : 

The Belgian State assumes the payment of all sums due by the foundation of 
the Crown, when such obligations have been undertaken in the interest of Bel- 
gium, as set forth in Annex III of the present convention. 

The obligations enumerated in Annex II will fall upon the colony. 

The sums at present due, either by Belgium or the colony, will be immediately 
liquidated. 

Article 4. 

The Belgian State will take the place of the Foundation of the Crown as to 
the rights and all the obligations assumed by it for the conclusion of works 



76 APPAIES IN THE KONGO. 

now pending in Belgium and for those enterprises which may have been con- 
tracted for. These different works are enumerated in Annex V. 

A special fund of 45,000,000 francs is created and shall be directed to the 
payment of these works under the supervision of the court of accounts. 

There is established, moreover, a special fund of 50,000,000 francs to be met 
by the colony. This fund will be placed at the disposition of the King, in token 
of gratitude for his great sacrifices in favor of the Kongo, created by him. 

This will be paid to him in fifteen annual installments, the first of 3,800,000 
francs and each of the fourteen others of 3,300,000 francs. 

This fund will be employed by the King for Kongo affairs and different works 
in favor of the Kongo, or the improvement of the welfare of the natives and for 
tke advantage of the whites who have rendered good service in Africa, and 
whatsoever part shall not have been expended at his decease will be at the 
disposition of his successors. 

Abticle 5. 

The revenues and the expenses pertaining to the Foundation of the Crown 
will, in case of annexation, pass to the account of the State on March 15, 1908. 

In witness of which the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the present 
act and affixed their seals. 

Made in duplicate in Brussels the 5th day of March, 1908. 



[Inelosure to dispatch No. 306 — Translation of inclosure No. 1.] 
Decree suppressing the foundation of the Croxon. 

LEOPOLD II, KING OF THE BELGIANS, 

Sovereign of the Independent State of the Kongo. 

To whom it may concern, greeting: 

Referring to our decrees relative to the foundation of the Crown and particu- 
larly to those of March 9, 1896, December 23, 1901, December 21, 1906, and 
June 21, 1907, and especially to article 7 of decree of December 23, 1901, which 
is as follows : 

" If the present foundation should cease to exist, or if the clauses and condi- 
tions arranging for the utilization of the property with which it has been 
endowed shall not be respected, this property will revert in full right and be 
returned to the founder or will be applied to the liquidation of the obligations 
owed by it to institutions, juridical persons, or to public Kongolese and other 
establishments which the founder may designate." 

Upon the advice of our Secretary of State, we have decreed and decree : 

Article 1. 

From this date, the juridical person of the foundation of the Crown having 
ceased to exist, in conformity with article 4 of the treaty of November 28, 1907, 
Belgium will assume the right of sovereignty over the territories of the Kongo. 

The property with which we have endowed it will revert to us. 

Article 2. 

On the date fixed in the preceding article the property hereinafter enumer- 
ated will be, through the present decree and in consideration of the additional 
act of March 5, 1908, ceded by us to the State : 

1. All the vacant lands in the basin of Lake Leopold II and of the River 
Lukenie. 

2. All the vacant lands in the basin of the River Busira-Momboyo. 

3. All the vacant lands comprised in the following limits : From the west, the 
line of convergence of the Lubefu with the Sankuru, then from this point to the 
upper line of the basin of the Lukenie; to the southwest and to the south, the 
right bank of the Lubefu and the fifth parallel south; to the east, the upper 
western line of the waters of the Lomani, between the latter parallel and the 
third parallel south. 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 77 

4. The mining district of tlie Aruwimi basin, at that drained by the tribu- 
taries on the left of the Uele-Kibali, excepting lands previously conceded 

The blocks of land of 20,000 hectares each in the lower Kongo (Mavumbe) 
of which mention is made in the decree of May 5, 1906, are not included in the 
present cession. 

Article 3. 
; 
The immovable properties enumerated in Annex I, paragraph 1, are on the 
same date ceded by us to the State, the usufruct being reserved to us. 

The improvements and immovable properties enumerated in the same annex 
paragraph 2, are ceded without conditions. 

The improvements and immovable properties enumerated in paragraph 3 aro 
not included in the present cession. 

Article 4. 

The assets of the Foundation, including the following stock, is also ceded : 
One thousand sbares of capital stock fully paid up, 1,000 shares of dividends. 

and 580 shares of capital stock paid up to 40 per cent of the International 

Forestry and Mining Society of Kongo. 

One hundred and eighty sbares, each of 1,000 francs, paid up to 10 per 

cent, of the Society for the Development of the Territories in the Basin of 

Lake Leopold II. 

Article 5. 

All the buildings and installations existing in the territories above mentioned, 
as well as the material, the products, and the furniture, are also ceded to tho 
State. 

Article 6. 

The cession of property above mentioned is encumbered with the charges indi- 
cated in Annex II. 

Article 7. 

The expenses already made or to be made by the Foundation for the profit of 
the State and the contracts indicated in Annex III will be met by the State. 

The State will guarantee the respect of the concessions made by the Founda- 
tion, as set forth in Annex IV, to third parties. 

Article 8. 

The property referred to in articles 2, 3, 4, and 5, ceded to the State in con- 
formity with article 1, will be definiialy acquired, notwithstanding any legal 
provisions to the contrary, and, by virtue of this cession, the Foundation is 
discharged from all obligations to the State. 

Article 9. 

Our Secretary of State is charged with the execution of the present decree. 
Given at Brussels, March 5, 1908. 

(Signed) Leopold. 



No. 45. 

Minisfei' Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No 308 1 American Legation, 

Brussels, March 10, 1908. 
Sir: Kef erring to my No. 306, with which are transmitted copies 
and translations of the amended treaty of annexation of the Kongo, 
the " expose des motifs " of the ministry, and the royal decree sup- 



78 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

pressing the Foundation of the Crown, I have the honor to advise 
the department that the results secured through the conclusion of 
this convention would appear to be such as should satisfy interna- 
tional opinion and allay the opposition which existed in Belgium to 
the project of annexation as conceived by the original t:reaty. 

The celebration of this treaty and its subsequent ratification by the 
Belgian Parliament will assure two definite and important results, 
which stand out clearly in the foreground. 

First, the Domain or Foundation of the Crown — which is only 
another name for the regime implanted by the King in the Kongo, 
which, it is alleged, is responsible for the conditions which have pro- 
voked international protest and action — is suppressed, and the Sover- 
eign's autocratic rule of these regions, through a system of secret 
bureaucracy, is ended. 

Second, the Government of the Kongo, through a responsible min- 
istry with parliamentary control of the budget, in accordance with 
a colonial law framed under the pressure of an active and vigilant 
Belgian, as well as international opinion, should make it certain that 
these regions, with the native population and vast natural resources, 
will be ruled and administered in harmony with the beneficent pre- 
scriptions of the Berlin and Brussels acts. 

Assuming that the treaty of annexation will be approved by Par- 
liament, the first of these objects has been attained, and from the 
constitution of the committee of seventeen, and the evident temper 
of the dominant majority in Parliament — which has doubtless been 
quickened in its conscience by the influence of public opinion in 
America and England — the second will not be long delayed. 

It does not appear to me that the terms upon which Belgium ac- 
quires the Kongo are of great importance from an international 
standpoint. 

These are considerations which it would appear have to do only 
with Belgian interests. Our interest in the Kongo question being 
purely humanitarian in character, we have been concerned only in 
the abolition of the regime which is held to be responsible for condi- 
tions repugnant to civilization and to the humanitarian spirit of this 
age, and in the substitution therefor of constitutional government to 
be interpreted and executed in a spirit of benevolence and humanity. 

There was some dissatisfaction with the treaty when it was first 
laid before Parliament, owing to the apparent intention to give the 
King absolute control of the expenditure of the $10,000,000 voted to 
him in recognition of his work in the Kongo. 

This objection, however, was met by a declaration of the prime 
minister that each annual installment of this sum was to be ap- 
proved upon by Parliament, in accordance with the Belgian consti- 
tution. 

I am of the opinion that the treaty, as now submitted, will receive 
a substantial majority in Parliament, and that future consideration 
of the Kongo question will relate to the character of the colonial law. 
I have, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



AEFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 79 

No. 46. 
The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. 

[Telegram.] 

Department of State, 

Washington, March 19, 1908. 

Ambassador Reid telegraphs 18th British foreion office will soon 
give memorandum to mmister in Belgium urging upon Belgian Gov- 
ernment caution against taking over property from King under any 
guaranty of concessions which might be contrary to rights of the 
treaty powers and to make no calculations on revenues that can only 
be derived from forced labor. Will have their minister communi- 
cate on these points with you and hopes for concerted action. British 
Government will publish facts concerning forced labor in parlia- 
mentary document. 

You will telegraph fully whatever overtures or proposals your 
British colleague iHay make to you. The instructions you have 
already received amply define our position, which, as you have 
already been told, is not in all respects identical with that of Great 
Britain because resting on other treaties than hers. 

Root. 

No. 47. 

Consul-General Smith to the Acting Secretary of State. 

No. 21.— Confidential.] 

American Consulate- General, 

Boma, March 21, 1908. 

Sir : I have the honor to inclose herewith a report on the political 
conditions of the upper Ituri district. 

In reference to this report, and for your further information, I beg 
to say the upper Ituri district is comprised within the region situated 
to the northeast of Stanleyville and west of Lake Albert in the basin 
of the Ituri and Aruwimi rivers. 

In this region, which is exploited directly by the State, the Fonda- 
tion de la Couronne has reserved to itself the rich mining district in 
the basin of the Aruwimi, where are located the gold mines of Kilo. 
Other mines are located at Panga in the same district, the gold being 
mostly alluvial. Exportations of gold from here in 1906 amounted 
to about $165,000, all of which would be for the account of the Fon- 
dation de la Couronne ; or, in other words, for the King. 

I have the honor to call your particular attention to the conditions 
brought about by the excessive rubber tax imposed on the unfortunate 
natives in this district. The similarity between these conditions and 
those existing in the region visited by myself are worthy of note. It 
is no uncommon thing for the rubber gatherers to be eaten by leop- 
ards, which abound in many regions of the State, and I well recall 
the case of a native who had been thus eaten and whose remains — 
what was left of them — were brought to the state post at Yambata 



80 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

while I was there. Tlie so-called police expeditions mentioned in the 
report are nothing more than armed raids for nonpayment of rubber 
taxes and for the purpose of securing laborers to work on the rail- 
road from Kindu south to Portes d'Enfer. 

I would further call your attention to that part of the report re- 
garding the working of the Kilo mines by forced labor. This system 
is plainly contrary to the law, which provides (decree 3d June, 1906) 
for the recruitment of workmen for works decreed as being of public 
utility. I fail to see how the development of a gold mine for the 
])ersonal benefit of the King can properly be called a work of public 
utility. The protest of the state's attorney, however, as is noted in 
the report, did not meet with the approval of the higher authorities 
at Boma, and the practical enslavement of the native continues. 

In forwarding this report I have the honor to say that the informa- 
tion given therein was communicated confidentially to the — 

consul-general here, and by him in the same manner to me. Our 

informant, , expects to return to the Kongo at the 

expiration of his leave, and the information he gives is not, therefore, 

for publication, but solely for your information. is 

described as a serious, intelligent, and well-balanced man, and his 
information, consequently, worthy of full faith and confidence. 
I have, etc., 

Jas. a. Smith, Gonsul-General. 



[Inclosure.] 

Infokmation on Political Conditions in the Upper Ituri District. 

Confidential.] 

The territory to the north of the line Medje, Nepoko, Kilo, as far 
as Uele River, has never been subdued. It is inhabited by the bellig- 
erent tribes of the Medje, Mokudu, and Bafuasoma, who have never 
paid, nor do now, taxes to the State. This territory, however, has 
never been placed under the " regime militaire " (martial law), but, 
in accordance with the terms of the decree of June 3, 1906, so-called 
police expeditions are constantlj^ being made into the district by the 

authorities. These expeditions, in some of which was 

present, are conducted with the greatest energy; entire villages are 
burned and the few prisoners taken are chained together by the neck 
and sent to forced labor on the railroad now building south from 
Kindu to Portes d'Enfer. 

The rest of the region comprised in the upper Ituri district, and 
which formerly paid taxes in rubber to the State, has revolted, the 
natives refusing to gather any more rubber. The tax on rubber has 
been a collective one, the villages furnishing a given quantity 
monthly, based uj)on the number of inhabitants. 

The reinuneration granted by the State to the natives for the 
rubber delivered is 25 centimes (5 cents) per kilogram and paid in 

Turkish fez. During all the time of his stay in this district 

saw no other merchandise distributed among the natives and 

the state posts had no other class of goods. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. §1 

• T^-^''^?"!^ ^ ?® monthly rubber tax imposed by the State the natives 
m this district are obliged to work the entire month. They are fre- 
quently obliged to go a distance of fifteen days' march from their 
villages to find it. No time remains for the native to attend to the 
cultivation of his garden. 

The revolt is a pacific one, being limited to a refusal on the part 
of the natives to gather rubber. Some of the natives interrogated 

by as to their reason for refusing to pay their taxes 

replied as follows: 

To pay the monthly impost we must go into the forest and work almost the 
entire month. Leaving for the forest with 50 men, we return with only 25 
or 30; the others die of hunger or are eaten by leopards. Our women must 
bring us our food; no one remains to work our gardens. Upon our return we 
are at once obliged to leave again for the forest. Therefore, to die of hunger 
working or die from a shot from an Albini is the same. Let the soldiers come 
and kill us, but we will no longer gather rubber. 

Profiting by the terms of the decree of June 3, 1906, this region has 
been declared to be under the " regime militaire," which is renewed 
every three months by proclamation. This condition, of which no 
information has up to the present been allowed to escape, has lasted 
for nearly a year. Justice is in the hands of the military authorities 
and the region thus left without any control. The Mambuti 
(pygmies) , a most warlike people, patrol the region seeking to create 
an armed uprising of the other natives, but with little or no success. 

Besides being most impressive, said , this peaceful revolt 

is truly pitiful. It is a people living continually in a state of slavery, 
not daring to rise in arms, but, tired of suffering, preferring death 
rather than life without hope. 

In the upper Ituri the work of paddling is not forced and the canoe 
crews are volunteers. Porterage to Arakubi is done freely by the 
population; in the other localities it is forced on the people by 
requisitioning the necessary men from the villages. During the march, 
arriving at the end of the day's journey, the porters are imprisoned 
within a stockade with a sentinel at the gate to prevent flight. These 
porters are paid at the rate of 20 centimes a day, with 5 centimes 
added for rations; total 25 centimes (5 cents) ; so that at the end of a 
day's work twelve porters, to whom would be due 3 francs (60 cents), 
are given a " doti " (2 fathoms) of white cotton cloth. 

The gold mines of Kilo are worked by forced labor. The State, 
profiting by small revolts, secures the laborers in the Manyema dis- 
trict to the south, and transports them chained together by the neck 
to Kilo. They are paid, it is true, one " doti " (2 fathoms) of cloth 
per month, besides food, but every liberty is denied them and they can 
not abandon their work. 

The substitut procureur (assistant state's attorney), de Lichter- 
walde, arriving at Kilo at the end of 1906, received the protest of all 
the laborers because they had no contract as the law provides and were 
kept at forced labor. Mr. de Lichterwalde complained to the district 
commissioner that this system was contrary to law, and informed him 
that if within three months the condition of the laborers was not bet- 
tered he would proceed against him in the courts. From Boma, how- 
ever, arrived an order to the 'procureur to suspend all action regarding 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 6 



82 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

the work at Kilo. Mr. de Lichterwalde left shortly afterwards for 
Europe on leave and has not returned. To-day the condition of the 
laborers at Kilo is the same as in 1906. 

Jas. a. Smith, Consul-General. 
BoMA, March 19, 1908. 



No. 48. 

The British Ambassador to the Secretary of State. 

No. 65.] British Embassy, 

Washington, March 23, 1908. 

Sir: I duly forwarded to His Majesty's Government the copy of 
the report on conditions in the Kongo State by the American consul- 
general at Boma kindly supplied by the United States Government 
in response to the request of this embassy. 

I am now directed by His Majesty's Government to inform you 
that they are very sensible of the advantages attaching to the co- 
operation of the United States Government in their efforts to bring 
about a more satisfactory state of affairs in the Kongo — and I am to 
add an expression of their cordial thanks for the communication of 
Mr. Smith's report and the consent given to the ]Dublication of ex- 
tracts from it in the papers to be submitted to Parliament. 



I have, etc. 



James Brtce. 



No. 49. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 312.] American Legation, 

Brussels, March 25, 1908. 
Sir: I have the honor to report that the Belgian premier, Mr. 
Schollaert, in response to an interrogatory submitted in the com- 
mittee of seventeen by Mr. Hymans, leader of the Left, has made 
public the following statements: 

The French Government has declared to us that it is prepared to confirm the 
agreement entered into between France and Belgium on February 5, 1895, on 
the subject of the right of preemption (preference) over the Kongo possessions. 
Signatures of this new agreement will be exchanged simultaneously with the 
settling of the Shiloango question and that of the tariffs between France and 
the Kongo Free State. 

The Government also added, in the way of explanation, that the 
questions of the delimitation on the frontier on the Shiloango and 
that of the fixed tariff of the Kongo railway have been under nego- 
tiation between the French Government and the Kongo government, 
and that these negotiations would be continued by the Belgian Gov- 
ernment. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 83 

No. 50. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Legation, 

Brussels, March 26, 1908. 
The colonial law, carrying with it Kongo annexation bill, adopted 
by practically unanimous vote of committee of seventeen. The bill is 
now before the house. 

Parliamentary control is assured and provisions safeguarding wel- 
fare of native races in harmony with Berlin and Brussels acts are 
included. 
The bill will be adopted. 

Wilson. 



No. 51. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 316.] American Legation, 

Brussels, March 26, 1908. 

Sir : Referring to the department's cablegram of March 19, I have 
the honor to report that until this time the British legation at Brus- 
sels has received no instructions of the kind referred to therein. 

Should the British minister submit any propositions for a concerted 
action to me, I will immediately cable them fully. 



I have, etc. 



Henry Lane Wilson. 



No. 52. 
Minister Wilson to tlie Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Legation, 

Brussels, March 30, 1908. 

The instructions to the British minister referred to in the depart- 
ment's cablegram March 19 have been received here and copy has been 
furnished me. The instructions do not seem to contemplate con- 
certed action, but express a hope that we will give support. 

The instructions bear upon three important points: First, relief of 
natives from excessive taxation ; "second, the grant to natives of suffi- 
cient lands to insure sustenance and sufficient produce to enable them 
to buy and sell as in other European colonies; third, the right of 
traders of all nationalities to acquire plots of land for factories and 
trading posts. The accompanying argument expresses apprehen- 
sions relative to the possibility of fully executing the provisions of 
Berlin and Brussels acts in the concessions, the integrity of which is 



84 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

stipulated in the treaty of annexation. To prevent future abuses it 
is sugo-ested that a staple currency be established ; that natives should 
not be'compelled by direct or indirect means to render labor without 
remuneration; that large increases be made in land allotments to 
natives. Incidentally, assurance is requested that British mission- 
aries, settlers, and merchants will be able in future to acquire plots of 
land in reasonable quantities in any part of the Kongo Free State. 
I am forwarding copy of the instructions by open mail. 

Wilson. 



No. 53. 
Charge Carter to the Secreary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

Ameeican Embassy, 

London, March 31, 1908. 
I am sending by fast steamer to-day a copy of Sir Edward Grej^'s 
instruction to British minister at Brussels, dated 27th instant,'^ in 
which he explains British Government's view of the treaty obliga- 
tions of the Kongo Free State; also what, in their opinion, is re- 
quired to bring the administration of that State into harmony with 
these obligations. 

British minister at Brussels is directed to communicate this in- 
struction to Belgian minister for foreign affairs, after consultation 
with Wilson. 

Carter. 



No. 54. 

Charge Carter to the Secretary of State. 

No. 567.] American Embassy, 

London, March 31, 1908. 

Sir : I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of a note which I 
have received from the foreign office, of this date, together with a 
copy of the dispatch from Sir Edward Grey to the British minister 
at Brussels, to which it refers. 

It will be observed that Sir Edward Grey states in his note that 
the memorandum referred to in his instruction to His Majesty's min- 
ister at Brussels is not yet complete, but that a copy will be com- 
municated to me as soon as it is ready. In the meanwhile. Sir Ar- 
thur Hardinge has been directed to take action on the dispatch with- 
out waiting for the memorandum. 

I have, etc., John Ridgely Carter. 



« See British print "Africa," No. 3, 1905, cd. 4135, p. 113. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 85 

[Inclosure.] 

Mr. Langley to Charge Carter. 
No. 10672/08.] 
Pressing.] Foreign Office, Slarcli SI, 190S. 

Sir : With reference to the conversation which I had with the United States 
ambassador on the 18th instant respecting the views of His Majesty's Govern- 
ment with regard to the annexation of the Kongo by Belgium, I have the honor 
to transmit to you, in accordance with the promise I then made, copy of a 
dispatch which I have addressed to His Majesty's minister at Brussels for com- 
munication to the Belgian minister for foreign affairs. 

The memorandum referred to in that document is not yet completed, but Sir 
A. Hardinge has been instructed to take action on my dispatch without waiting 
for it, and a copy will be communicated to you as soon as it is ready." 
I have, etc., 

W, Langley, 
(For Sir Edward Grey.) 



[Inclosure.] 



No. 35. — Africa.] Foreign Office, March 27, 190S. 

Sir : With reference to my dispatch No. 23, Africa, of March 5, I have to 
inform you that His Majesty's Government consider that the recent communica- 
tion respecting the Kongo question made to them by the Belgian Government 
through Count Lelaing maljes it desirable for them to offer some observations 
to explain what is their view of the treaty obligations of the Kongo State, and 
what in their opinion is required to bring the administration of the State into 
harmony with these obligations. 

His Majesty's Government have received with much satisfaction the assur- 
ance of the Belgian Government that they recognize that, after annexation, the 
territory of the Kongo State will remain subject to the provisions of the Berliu 
and Brussels acts. To these His Majesty's Government would add the pro- 
visions, so far as they are concerned, of the Anglo-Kongolese convention of 1884. 
His Majesty's Government have every confidence in the earnest desire of the 
Belgian Government to introduce thorough and far-reaching reforms into the 
present system of administration in the Kongo, and they are therefore particu- 
larly anxious to maintain an attitude of strict forbearance and to abstain from 
any act which might be construed as interfering with the complete liberty of 
action of the Belgian Government in the future management of the internal 
affairs of the Kongo. His Majesty's Government fully recognize that the choice 
of the means by which the administration of the Kongo may be brought into 
line with the Berlin act rests exclusively with Belgium. Nevertheless, while 
disclaiming all idea of interference. His Majesty's Government feel that in 
fairness they should leave the Belgian Government in no doubt that in their 
opinion the existing administration of the Kongo State has not fulfilled the 
objects for which the State was originally recognized or the conditions of 
treaties, and that changes are therefore required which should effect the 
following objects : 

1. Belief of the natives from excessive taxation. 

2. The grant to the natives of sufficient land to insure their ability to obtain 
not only the food they require, but also sufficient produce of the soil to enable 
them to buy and sell as in other European colonies. 

3. The possibility for traders, whatever their nationality may be, to acquire 
plats of land of reasonable dimensions in any part of the Kongo for the erec- 
tion of factories, so as to enable them to establish direct trade relations with 
the natives. 

The accompanying memorandum gives a r§sume on the subject of taxation. 
It takes for its basis the conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry, as set out 
in their report of 30th October, 1905 ; dwells on the assurances given by the sec- 
retaries-general in their report to the King Sovereign when submitting for His 
Majesty's approval the reform decrees of June 3, 1906, and finally compares 
those assurances with the actual operation of the new decrees as reported by 
His Majesty's consular officers. A perusal of that document can not fail to 

« See p. 117. 



gg AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

make it clear that, although cases of actual cruelty have largely ceased, the 
burden of taxation remains as oppressive as ever. It amounts, in fact, to a sys- 
tem of forced labor differing in name only from slavery, and can not m the 
opinion of His Majesty's Government be reconciled vpith Article VI of the 

Berlin act. , , -, .^, 

As regards point 2, His Majesty's Government have learned with some appre- 
hen<^ion the intention of the Belgian Government, as it appears from the treaty 
of annexation, to respect in their entirety the rights of the concessionary com- 
panies. ., , .^, ^ , 

They assume that the entire Domaine Prive and the territory hitherto known 
as the Domaine de la Couronne will pass to the Belgian Government, and that 
the latter will be free in these territories to introduce whatever measures of 
reform they think necessary, not only for the protection of the natives but for 
insuring the freedom of trade, one of the objects for which the act of Berlin 
was framed. 

If the concessions are to be maintained it will probably be found more diffi- 
cult to introduce adequate changes into the system of administration, because 
the reforms to be introduced must necessarily apply throughout the State, the 
whole territory being equally subject to the provisions of the Berlin act. 

The concessionary companies now cover, roughly speaking, three-fifths of the 
entire territory of the Kongo State. The object of their concessions is chiefly 
rubber, an article which represents on a yearly average 85 per cent of the total 
exports of the country ; and so long as the concessions are worked upon the same 
conditions as at present it is difficult to see how the complete freedom of trade 
which is guaranteed under Article I of the Berlin act can possibly exist, for the 
condition of the native in those areas will be such as to preclude the possibility 
of his acquiring any material wealth beyond the minimum necessary for the 
bare support of life, since he will continue to be debarred from enjoyment of 
the fruits of the soil. Such conditions not only present an insuperable obstacle 
to any trade relations with the population of the larger portion of the Kongo, 
but they fail to meet the requirements of Article VI of the Berlin act, under 
which the signatory powers pledge themselves to provide for the improvement 
of the natives' moral and material well-being. 

Moreover, the areas which were formerly comprised in the concessions of the 
Abir and Anversoise companies must be treated as on the same footing as the 
areas in the concessions of the existing companies. Although those companies 
have censed to exploit their concessions themselves, according to the conven- 
tions between them and the State (annexes 13 and 14 to the treaty of cession), 
the latter bind themselves to hand over the produce in rubber to the former at 
Antwerp at a fixed rate. The produce of these areas may therefore be said to 
be already disposed of in advance. His Majesty's Government understand that 
according to the treaty of cession the Belgian Government bind themselves to 
respect this arrangement, and they must therefore conclude that the condition 
of affairs within these areas will be similar to that in the other concessions. 

With so large an area of the Kongo State subject to the concession system 
His Majesty's Government can not help feeling that no real improvement will 
be effected in the state of affairs unless there is a radical alteration of the 
economic system of the territory. 

His Majesty's Government can but repeat that they are well aware that it is 
outside their province to define the reforms that should be adopted in the Kongo, 
but as they have good reason to believe that both Governments are on this 
question animated by the same spirit, they venture to suggest the following 
measures, as they believe that their adoption would effect a marked improve- 
ment in the conditions prevailing in the Kongo. They trust that these sug- 
gestions will be welcomed by the Belgian Government in a friendly spirit 
and receive that measure of consideration which the gravity of the situation 
requires. 

Taking the three points enumerated above in order it appears to His Majesty's 
Government that (1) as regards the question of taxation in labor, the abuses 
to which the system has given rise have only been rendered possible by the 
absence of a proper standard of value. They believe, therefore, that the only 
sure and efficacious means of precluding the existence of such abuses in the 
future is the introduction of currency throughout the State at the earliest 
possible date. Both the reports of the commission of inquiry and the experience 
of His Majesty's consular officers agree in the conclusion that the native has 
learned the use of money and that currency would be welcomed by all classes, 
native and European alike. 



AFPAIES IN THE KONGO. 87 

Secondly, the natives in the concessionary areas should not be compelled by 
either direct or indirect means to render their labor to the companies without 
remuneration. The introduction of currency should contribute greatly to the 
protection of the native against the illicit and excessive exactions on the part 
of private individuals. Such protection can not, however, be adequately secured 
unless the latter be compelled to pay the native in specie at a fair rate, to be 
fixed by law. 

Thirdly, they would urge that a large increase should be made in the land 
allotted to the natives. 

In fixing the amount due regard should be had to the system of land tenure 
in vogue among them. From the reports which I have received from the British 
consular officers it would appear that individual property can scarcely be said 
to exist, while collective property would seem to be the rule. The natives 
of the Kongo are not precisely nomadic and seldom migrate outside what may 
be called their tribal areas, but as the rotation of crops and the use of manure 
are unknown the yield decreases after three or four years' cultivation, and 
the natives are obliged to shift the site of their villages and clear and plant 
new lands. 

If allowance is to be made for these practices the allotment of land to the 
natives should be made on a liberal scale, and the natives should be allowed 
to keep for themselves all the products of their laud, whether they are the result 
of cultivation or not. In the opinion of His Majesty's Government, the recom- 
mendations of the commission of inquiry on this point, to which practical effect 
is being given under the decree of June 3, 1906, entitled " Terres Indigenes," are 
insufficient for this purpose. 

The joint effect of these three reforms would go far to ameliorate the condi- 
tion of the natives in the Kongo, but no such improvement can be looked for 
unless the introduction of all three is obtained. Little benefit would result from 
any one of them standing alone. 

As already stated, His Majesty's Government merely submit these views for 
the friendly consideration of the Belgian Government; and if the latter have 
measures in view other than those above suggested. His Majesty's Government 
would greatly appreciate any information which could be communicated to them 
on the subject. 

They would also be glad to receive an assurance from the Belgian Government 
that British missionaries, land settlers, and merchants will be able in the future 
to acquire plots of land in reasonable quantities in any part of the State, so as 
to secure to them the advantages that were intended by article 2 of the Anglo- 
Kongolese agreement of December 16, 1884. 

It had been the intention of His Majesty's Government to claim, in accordance 
with the rights guaranteed to them under Article XII of the Berlin act, that an 
arbitration should take place to determine whether the land and trade systems 
now in force in the Kongo Free State are consistent with the first and fifth 
articles of that instrument, which enact that trade is to be free and monopolies 
to be prohibited. As His Majesty's Government have now every reason to hope 
that the State will be annexed in the near future by Belgium, they prefer to post- 
pone any question of arbitration, and to discuss the situation with the Belgian 
Government in a frank and friendly spirit. 

You should inform your United States colleague of the action which you are 
instructed to take, and express the hope that he will give his support. You may, 
if he desires it, give him a copy of this dispatch. 

I am, etc., E. Geey. 



No. 55. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No &18 1 American Legation, 

Brussels^ March 31, 1908. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith the copy of the in- 
structions of the British Government to its minister here referred to 
in my telegram of March 30. 



gg AFFAHIS IF THE KONGO. 

This copy was handed to me in duplicate on the evening of the 29th. 
and at the same time Sir Arthur Hardinge informed me that he 
intended to leave a copy with the Belgian minister for foreign affairs 
not later than Tuesday, the 31st. 

A concerted action under these circumstances was of course impos- 
sible, but if the department considers that there is legitimate cause 
for further expression of our views an independent representation 
can be placed in the hands of the Belgian foreign office before the 
closure of the discussion. 

The department will observe that, while the underlying note of the 
instructions bears upon the execution of the humanitarian prescrip- 
tions of the Berlin and Brussels acts, British commercial interests 
are not overlooked. 

Perhaps I should call the attention of the department to a fact 
which is not alluded to in the instructions to Sir Arthur Hardinge. 
viz, that in some of the most important concessions (see annex to 
treaty) a majority of the stock will be held by the Belgian Govern- 
ment. 

I regret that I am unable at this time to furnish the department 
with a copy of the colonial law as reported by the committee of sev- 
enteen. Official copies are yet not available, though it may be pos- 
sible to obtain them this week. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 

Note. — For inclosure see No. 35 of March 31, 1908, from London. 



No 56. 
The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. 

[Telegram.] 

Department of State, 
Washington, April i, 1908. 
Your telegram of 30th. Your recital of instructions received by 
your British colleague suggests that they are in the line of the desire 
and expectation of the United States that the conditions of the Kongo 
annexation shall be such as to benefit the natives, relieve them from 
onerous burdens, increase the commercial and residential privileges 
of foreigners, and generally carry out the stipulations of existing 
treaties to which the United States is a party. You may inde- 
pendently and coincidently express our views in the same sense as 
Great Britain does. 

Elihu Eggt. 



No. 57. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 319.] American Legation, 

Brussels, April 1, 1908. 
Sm: I have the honor to transmit herewith the following corre- 
spondence exchanged between this legation and the Kongo foreign 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 89 

office relative to the right of American Christian missionaries to pur- 
chase or lease lands m the Kongo State territories for missionary or 
school sites: 

1. Copy of my note of March 16, sent after the receipt of the 
department's cablegram of March 12. 

2. Copy of reply thereto, dated March 18. 

3. Translation of No. 2. 

4. Copy of my reply to No. 2. 

I also transmit (inclosure 6) a copy of the simultaneous note ad- 
dressed to the Kongo foreign office by the British minister upon the 
same date with my inclosure No. 1, and a copy of the reply thereto 
(inclosure No. 6). 

The British minister has not yet made his reply to Mr. de Cuvelier's 
note of March 28, but if I am furnished a copy later it will be trans- 
mitted to the department. 

The department will note that the language of the correspondence 
exchanged between this legation and the Kongo foreign office is de- 
cidedly vigorous and emphatic, but I believed it necessary to let it be 
known that we felt a just indignation over the disposition of the 
Kongo government to evade or postpone the performance of its treaty 
obligations upon pleas of a frivolous character, and to say in a direct 
and forcible manner that we can not tolerate the suspension or 
evasion of the execution of treaty stipulations upon pretexts invented 
by bureaucratic jurists. 



I have, etc., 



Henky Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure 1 to dispatch No. 319.] 

Mmister Wilson to the Chevalier de Cuvelier, Secretary-General of the Kongo, 

March 16, 1908. 

Mr. Seceetaky-Geneeal : I duly transmitted to Washington your esteemed 
note of February 7, and am just in receipt of an expression of my Government's 
views thereon. 

My Government was not avpare, until its attention vpas called by the corre- 
spondence between your department and this legation, that the right of any 
class of American Christian missionaries to purchase lands for missionary sites 
and schools in the Belgian Kongo had ever been questioned, denied, or limited, 
and it regrets that such clear and definite rights, secured by solemn treaties, 
must be made the subject of diplomatic correspondence. 

The rights of American Christian missionaries are fully set forth and de- 
scribed in the language of articles 2 and 4 of our treaty of amity, commerce, 
and navigation of 1891, and the guaranties therein contained can not be abro- 
gated, suspended, or delayed. 

While I am sensible that our rights, under the existing treaties, will be fully 
recognized by Belgium, and while I appreciate in some measure the difficulties 
of affording a satisfactory solution at this period of transition, when the Kongo 
government is possibly on the eve of being transferred to another power, I must 
nevertheless beg you to be good enough to give me the formal assurance that 
in the event the annexation bill now pending before Parliament shall fail of 
adoption during the present session the consideration and settlement of this 
question will not be further postponed. 

I will be greatly pleased, Mr. Secretary-General, to have a reply to this note 
at as early a date as convenient. 

I avail myself, etc., Heney Lane Wilson. 



90 APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

[Inclosure 3 to dispatch No. 319. — Translation of inclosure No. 2.] 
Chevalier de Cuvelier to Minister Wilson. 

Mr. Minister: By your letter of Marcli 16, replying to my letter of Febru- 
ary 7, your excellency has kindly requested to be clearly informed relative 
to the intentions of the Government of the Kongo in the matter of the sale of 
lands belonging to the State, in the event that the treaty of annexation at 
present pending before the Belgian Parliament should not be adopted during 
the present session. 

I have the honor to advise your excellency that if events should occur as 
you anticipate the Government of the Independent State of the Kongo would 
consider that the circumstances to vi^hich I referred in my letter of February 
7 would be modified, and it would naturally have to examine the measures to 
be taken that the decrees of June 3, 1908, providing for the sale or lease of 
lands belonging to the State should be executed without delay. 

Your excellency will permit me to add that the diplomatic correspondence 
which I had the honor to exchange with the legation of the United States has 
never put in question, nor contested or limited, the rights of American citizens 
in the Independent State of the Kongo, as stipulated by the treaty of January 
24, 1891, and particularly by articles 2 and 4, and that the Government of the 
Kongo State does not intend to evade any of its international obligations, 
either in their tenor or bearing. 

I avail, etc., , Che. de Cuvelier. 



[Inclosure 4 to dispatch No. 319.] 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary-General of the Independent State of the Kongo, 

March 31, 1908. 

Mr. Seceetaky-Geneeal : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your esteemed letter of March 28, No. 784-2068, and note with pleasure the 
declaration contained therein that in the event of the failure of the Kongo 
annexation bill now pending before Parliament to receive legislative approval, 
the government of the Independent State of the Kongo will immediately address 
itself to the execution of the decrees providing for the sale or lease of lands 
belonging to the State. 

I must add, however, Mr. Secretary-General, that the interpretation placed 
by you upon the correspondence of this legation with the Independent State 
of the Kongo seems to me at variance with the facts. In no correspondence 
which I have had the honor to exchange with you has it been either stated or 
intimated that the Kongo foreign office had placed in question treaty rights of 
American citizens guaranteed by the convention of 1891. 

I may, however, be permitted to call your attention to the fact that the con- 
vention of 1891 has now been in force for more than sixteen years, and vet 
there is undisputed evidence that the agents of the Kongo government have 
refused— and still continue to refuse— to sell or lease lands to American mis- 
sionaries for mission or school sites. 

As the State is practically the exclusive proprietor of Kongo lands, the re- 
fusal of its agents to sell or lease the same to a class of persons specifically 
mentioned m articles 2 and 4 of the convention constitutes m itself a virtual 
abrogation of the stipulations therein contained. 

My Government is not seeking special privileges at the hands of the Kongo 
government. It is simply asking for the performance of treaty obligations 
without reservations or delays. 

I avail myself, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure 5 to dispatch No. 319.] 
The British Minister to the Independent State of the Kongo. 

Brussels, March 16, 1908. 
Monsieur le Chevalier : I duly transmitted to His Majesty's secretary of 
state for foreign affairs the note which you did me the honir to address to me 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 9X 

on the 21st ultimo respecting sites for British Christian missions in the Inde- 
pendent Kongo State, and I reported to him the verbal exchange of views which 
had taken place between us on this question. 

Sir Edward Grey has approved of the stress laid by me on the rights to the 
acquisition of landed property in the Kongo State guaranteed by it to British 
subjects under article 2 of the convention of 1884 between Great Britain and 
the International Association of the Kongo ; but in view of the considerations 
set forth by you he has merely instructed me to require from the Kongo Gov- 
ernment a formal assurance that if the annexation bill now before the Bel«'-ian 
Parliament is not passed before the close of its session in May next that Gov- 
ernment will without further delay sell to the British missionary societies con- 
cerned sites in or near the localities which they have indicated. 

I should be grateful, Monsieur le Chevalier, for a replv at your earliest con- 
venience to this note, to which I have the honor to annex a translation, and I 
avail myself of this opportunity to renew to you the assurance of my high 
consideration. 

A. H. Haedinge. 



[Translation of inclosure 6 to dispatch No. .319.] 
Independent State of the Kongo to the British Minister. 

Brussels, March 28, 1908. 

Mr. Minister: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the letter 
which your excellency has been good enough to address me relative to the in- 
tentions of the Government of the Independent State of the Kongo in the matter 
of the sale or lease of domain lands in the event that the annexation bill, at 
present pending before the Belgian Parliament, should not be adopted before 
the close of its session in the month of May next. 

During our former interviews, when your excellency referred to the postpone- 
ment of annexation, I answered spontaneously that, in case the event should 
occur in that way, the Kongo Government, finding the present situation altered, 
would naturally have to examine the measures to be taken that the decrees of 
June 3, 1906, providing for the sale or lease of domain lands, should be executed 
without new delay. 

I ought, Mr. Minister, to make reserves upon the interpretation given in your 
letter to the treaty of 1884 between Great Britain and the Kongo International 
Association, that article 2, in stipulating for British subjects " the right of 
residence and establishment " in the territories of the association, as also the 
right to buy and lease lands, edifices, mines, and forests, does not impose upon 
the State the obligation of selling to private persons whatsoever lands they may 
find it convenient to select. 

I have, etc., Chev. de Cuveliee. 

[For further British-Belgian correspondence on this subject, see "Africa," No. 
2, 1908, cd. 4079.] 



No. 58. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 321.] American Legation, 

Brussels, April 3, 1908. 

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith three copies in the 
French text of the colonial law, as reported by the committee of 
seventeen to Parliament. 

These copies reached me at the moment of closing this pouch, and I 
thought it better to forward them without the delay which would 
result from a translation being made here. 



92 APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

It must be borne in mind that this is a simple committee report, apd 
it may be largely modified in the discussion in Parliament, which 
begins on the 7th of this month. , , -r. v ^ -n 

A translation of the colonial law, when adopted by Parliament, will 
be forwarded to the department. . 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 

[Inclosure. — Translation.] 

Cliamber of Representatives. 

Session of 1907-1908. 

Plan of Law for the Government of the Belgian Kongo.^ 

[Text adopted at a second reading by the Commission of Seventeen.] 

Chapter I. — On the juridical situation of the Belgian Kongo. 

ARTICLE 1. 

The Belgian Kongo lias a separate personality from tbat of the mother 
country. 

It shall be governed by particular laws. The assets and liabilities of Belgium 
and the colony shall be kept separate. 

Chapter II. — The rights of Belgians, foreigners, and natives. 

ARTICLE 2. 

All the inhabitants of the colony shall enjoy the rights established by articles 
7 (1 and 2) to 16 (1), 21, 22, and 24 of the Belgian constitution, the mention 
of the " laws " before being completed by " or the decrees " to the before- 
inentioned articles 9, 10, 11, and 22. 

Belgians and foreigners belonging to civilized countries shall enjoy the civil 
rights established by the laws of the colony, but their personal status shall be 
governed by their national laws. 

Natives of the African race, both of the colony and of neighboring countries, 
and foreigners who shall be assimilated to them by decree, are subject to the 
before-mentioned laws and to their national customs, in so far as these are not 
contrary to the laws and decrees and do not interfere with public order. Certain 
laws will regulate in a short while all that concerns real rights and individual 
liberty. 

ARTICLE 3. 

The governor-general shall watch over the preservation of the native popula- 
tion and the improvement of their moral and material conditions of existence. 
He shall favor the expansion of individual liberty, the gradual abandonment of 
polygamy, and the development of private property. He shall protect and favor, 
without distinction of nationality or religion, all religious, scientific, or char- 
itable institutions and enterprises created and organized for these purposes or 
tending to instruct the natives and make them understand and appreciate the 
advantages of civilization. 

Christian missionaries, scientists, explorers, their escorts, property, and col- 
lections, shall be the object of special protection. 

AETICLE 4. 

A permanent commission of seven members shall be formed to watch over 
the whole territory of the colony for the protection of the natives and the im- 
provement of their moral and material conditions of existence. 

The commission shall be presided over by the attorney-general. The other 
members shall be appointed by the Kmg from persons residing in the territory 



"Plan of law. No. 281 (session of 1900-1901). Amendments No. 238 (session 
of 1906-1907) and No. 132. 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 93 

of the colony who, by the nature of their duties or occupations, appear to be 
specially qualified for that protective mission. The commission shall apnoint 
its own secretary. 

It shall meet at least once a year ; its president shall convoke it. 

Every year the commission shall make a collective report to the King on the 
measures to take for the benefit of the natives. This report shall be nub- 
lished. 

The members of the commission shall report, even individually, to the officers 
of the public ministry the abuses and illegalities of which the natives are 
victims. 

Chapter III. — Tlie exercise of powers. • 

ARTICLE 5. 

The King shall exercise legislative power by means of decrees except as 
regards matters which are or which shall be regulated by law. 

Decrees shall be made upon the proposal of the minister for the colonies. 
No decree is in force until it has been made public. 

ARTICLE 6. 

The executive power shall belong to the King. It shall be carried out by 
means of rules and orders. 

The courts and tribunals shall only apply the rules and orders in so far as 
they are conformable to the laws or decrees. 

No rule of general administration or order is in force until it has been made 
public. 

ARTICLE 7. 

No act of the King shall be effective unless countersigned by a minister, who 
by that act makes himself alone responsible for it. 

ARTICLE 8. 

No customs tax or duty can be imposed nor any exemption from tax be 
granted except by decree. The decree shall only be in force after the vote of 
the budget. 

ARTICLE 9. 

Gold and silver money shall circulate in Belgium and in the Kongo in the 
same conditions. 

A royal decree shall fix the date on which silver money coined by the Inde- 
pendent State of the Kongo shall be removed from circulation and no longer be 
exchanged by the colonial treasury. 

The profit which may be made by the coining of Belgian money necessary for 
the colony shall be credited to the colonial budget. 

The King shall be allowed to coin special copper money for the colony. This 
money shall not be good in Belgium. 

ARTICLE 10. 

The budget of receipts and expenses of the colony shall be made up each 
year by law. 

At least four months before the beginning of the fiscal year the statement 
of the budget shall be printed and distributed to the members of the legislative 
Chambers by the colonial office. 

If the Chambers have not voted the budget before the 20th of December of 
the year preceding the beginning of the fiscal year, the King shall take charge 
of the receipts, and every three months, until the decision of the Chambers, 
shall provide the minister for the colonies with the necessary provisional 
credits. 

The King, or in the colony the governor-general, shall order the issue of bills 
and, in case of urgent need, the necessary supplemental expenses. Within three 
months the minister for the colonies shall forward a copy of the royal resolu- 
tion or of the regulation to each of the Chambers. When the resolution refers 
to supplemental expenses, he shall inclose at the same time a bill of approval. 



94 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

ARTICLE 11. 

The general account of the colony shall be settled by law, after inspection by 
the accountant-general's office. 

This office shall see if any item in the expense account of the budget has been 
exceeded and if the supplemental expenses have been approved by the law. 

The accountant-general's office shall issue, through the minister for the colo- 
nies, all statements of accounts and vouchers and give all information and ex- 
planations necessary for the control and expenditure of the receipts. 

The general account of the colony shall be sent to the Chambers with the 
remarks of the accountant-general's office, 

AETICLE 12. 

The colony may only borrow, guarantee the capital or interest of a loan, or 
carry on works out of its extraordinary resources when authorized by law. 

ARTICLE 13. 

Every concession of railroads or mines, and each cession or concession, for any 
period whatever, of government lands of a superficial area exceeding 10 hectares 
shall be agreed to or authorized by decree. 

During thirty meeting days there shall be deposited on the tables of the two 
Chambers all projects of decrees, with all vouchers, granting — 

(a) Concessions of railroads, mines, mineral lands, or alluvial gold deposits, 

(&) Government lands exceeding 25,000 hectares in superficial areas. 

(c) Concessions for the possession of government lands if their superficial 
area exceeds 100,000 hectares or if the concession is granted for more than ten 
years. 

In order to determine the superficial area referred to in lines 1 and 2, account 
shall be taken of cessions or concessions of government lands by which the 
interested party has formerly profited, 

ARTICLE 14. 

The civil and military courts of justice shall be organized by decree. 
Officials in the public service shall discharge their duties under the authority 
of the minister for the colonies. 

ARTICLE 15. 

Regular magistrates shall be appointed and dismissed by the King. 

They can only be dismissed on the request of the attorney-general for causes 
named in the decree and with the acquiescence of the supreme court of the 
colony. 

After a period of probation, which shall not exceed three years, regular mag- 
istrates shall be appointed for a term of ten years. At the expiration of this 
period they shall be pensioned. They can always be pensioned prior to the end 
of ten years, either at their request if they have served eight years in the col- 
ony, mcludmg the period of probation, or in case of their inability to properly 
discharge their duties on account of bad health. In the latter case their being 
placed on the pension list shall only be decided on with the acquiescence of the 
supreme court of the colony. 

Regular magistrates definitely appointed can not be removed without their 
consent except m cases of urgent need and by provisional measure. In all 
cases of removal they shall receive a salary at least equal to that which was 
attached to their former duties. 

Salaries, leaves of absence, and pensions shall be fixed by legislative measure, 

ARTICLE 16. 

coSf and^rtbunals!"^ '"" °'' ^'''''"'' ""•'''' "^ ^"^P'^"^ *^^ -^«on of the 
For reasons of public safety, the King can always suspend the repressive 
action of the courts and civil tribunals and substitute inS mimary Taw 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 95 

AETICLE 17. 

Justice shall be administered and its sentences carried out in tlie name of the 
King. 

Hearings in court shall be public, as long as publicity is not dangerous to 
order and morals; in that case the court shall proclaim it by a judgment. 

The grounds for every judgment shall be stated. It shall be proclaimed in 
public. 

The King has the right to remit, reduce, and commute penalties. 

AETICLE 18. 

The executive power can delegate the exercise of his sovereign rights only to 
persons and appointed bodies that are hierarchically subordinate to him. How- 
ever, until a decree has otherwise provided, prior to January 1, 1910,' this shall 
not detract from the authority conferred by the Independent State of the Kongo 
on the special committee of the Katanga. 

The governor-general of the colony shall exercise the executive power dele- 
gated him by the King by means of regulations. 

Delegation of legislative power is forbidden. However, the King can authorize 
the governor-general, in urgent cases, to temporarily suspend the carrying out 
of decrees and give to regulations the force of law. Regulations having this 
object shall cease to be obligatory after a period of six months, if they have not 
been approved by decree before the expiration of this term. 

Regulations having the force of law and those of general administration shall 
only be obligatory after having been made public. 

Chapter IV. — The minister for the colonies and the colonial council. 

ARTICLE 19. 

A colonial department shall be created. 

The minister for the colonies shall be appointed and removed by the King. 
He shall be one of the council of ministers. 
Articles 86 to 91 of the Belgian constitution shall be applicable to him. 

ARTICLE 20. 

A colonial council shall be formed composed of a president and 14 members. 

The minister for the colonies shall preside over the council. He has a 
deliberative vote in it and in case of division a casting vote. 

Eight councilors shall be appointed by the King, 6 by the legislative cham- 
bers — 3 by the Senate and 3 by the Chamber of Representatives. They shall 
be elected by secret ballot and by a positive majority of votes. 

Each year a councilor appointed by the King or a councilor appointed by the 
chambers shall retire in alternation. Councilors shall retire by rank of 
seniority ; the rank of those who have been appointed the same day shall be 
settled by lot. Retiring councilors can be reappointed. 

The functions of councilor and member of the Chamber of Representatives 
or of the Senate are incompatible. 

Officials of the colonial administration in active service can not be members 
of the council. 

ARTICLE 21. 

The colonial council shall consider all questions submitted to it by the King. 

Excepting in an urgent case and that mentioned in article 18, the colonial 
council shall be consulted on all proposed decrees. The projects shall be sub- 
mitted to it by the King ; they shall be accompanied by a statement of the rea- 
sons therefor. 

The council shall give its opinion, in the form of a statement with reasons 
therefor, within the period fixed by its organic regulations. The statement 
shall give the number of opponents as well as the motives for their opposition. 

If the proposed decree submitted to the King for signature does not meet 
with the approval of the council, the minister for the colonies shall add to it 
a statement of the reasons for their objection. 

The statement of the colonial council and eventually the statement of the 
minister for the colonies shall be made public at the same time as the decree. 



96 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

Decrees made in cases of urgency shall be submitted to the council within 
ten days from their date; the causes for the urgency shall be indicated. The 
statement of the council shall be made public at the latest one month after the 
communication of the decree. 

ARTICLE 22. 

The colonial coun^-1 shall demand from the Government all the information 
it deems necessary in its work. 
It can send its recommendations to it. 

Chapteb V. — Foreign relations. 

ARTICLE 23. 

The King shall make treaties concerning the colony. 

The provisions of article 68 of the Belgian constitution relative to treaties 
shall apply to treaties which concern the colony. 

ARTICLE 24. 

The minister for foreign affairs of the Kingdom has among his powers and 
duties the relations of Belgium with foreign powers on the subject of the 
colony. 

Chapter VI. — General provisions. 

ARTICLE 25. 

Decisions made by Belgian courts on civil and commercial matters and arbi- 
tral awards executory in Belgium have the authority of res judicata in the 
colony and are rightfully executory there. 

Authentic acts that are executory in Belgium are rightfully executory in the 
colony. 

Judgments given in civil and commercial matters by courts sitting in the 
colony and arbitral awards executory in the colony have in Belgium the au- 
thority of res judicata and are executory there if they fulflll the following 
conditions: (1) That the decision does not contain anything contrary to public 
order or the principles of public Belgian law (2) that in accordance with the 
colonial law it has become res judicata; (3) that in accordance with the same 
law the copy which is made from it shall embrace the conditions necessary for 
Its authenticity; (4) that the rights of the defense have been respected. 

The exequatur shall be issued by the civil court of the place where the 
execution shall be prescribed. 

Authentic acts that are executory in the colony are rightfully executory in 
Belgium. 

ARTICLE 26. 

_ Whoever is wanted for an offense committed in the colony and shall be found 
m Belgium shall be tried there by the Belgian courts, in accordance with the 
colonial penal code, but in the manner prescribed by Belgian law. 

The chamber of indictments may send the accused back to colonial jurisdic- 
tion, either at his own request or on the requisition of the government attor- 
ney ; in the latter case the decision must be unanimous. If need be the 
Chamber shall prolong, for as long as necessary, the duration of the validity 
of the warrant for arrest. 

Whoever is wanted for an offense committed in Belgium and shall be found in 
the territory ot the colony shall be delivered up to Belgian justice in order to be 
tried in accordance with Belgian laws. 

h.^l}nZ?J!Ff'^ authorities have not requested his extradition, the accused may 
be represented in the Belgian court by a special attorney 

.nHfnHtrnf^'''^^i? Pe^^^l blatters by Belgian or colonial courts have the 
authority of res judicata and are rightfully executory there 

However, a person sentenced by the Belgian courts to be imprisoned for at 
least six months may serve the sentence in Belgium if he requests it 

When a violation of the law consists of acts committed partly in Bel-ian and 
partly hi colonial territory, it shall be considered, from the point of vtewJf the 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 97 

jurisdiction, as having been committed at tlie place wlaere the author has been 
found. 

If there are several coprincipals, some of whom are found in Belgian and 
others in colonial territory, the Belgian courts alone shall have cognizance. 

The court which has cognizance with regard to the principal authors shall 
have equal cognizance with regard to accomplices. 

ARTICLE 27. 

In all cases the meaning of judicial and extrajudicial acts intended for per- 
sons domiciled or residing in the colony shall be subject in Belgium to the 
geiieral rules rel.jtive to the meaning of acts intended for persons domiciled or 
residing in a foreign country. However, the minister for the colonies shall 
intervene, if need be, instead of the minister for foreign affairs. 

Reciprocally, the meaning of judicial and extrajudicial acts intended for per- 
sons domiciled or residing in Belgium shall be subject in the colony to the gen- 
eral rules relative to the meaning of acts intended for persons domiciled or 
residing in a foreign country. 

Rogatory commissions issued by the competent Belgian or colonial authorities 
shall be rightfully executory in Belgian and colonial territory. 

ARTICLE 28. 

Belgian officials and military men who have been authorized to accept service 
in the colony, both before and after its annexation, shall preserve their seniority 
and their right to advancement in the administration or arm of the service 
which they have temporarily abandoned. 

ARTICLE 29. 

The colony of the Kongo may use the flag and seal used by the State of the 
Kongo independently of the Belgian flag and seal. 

ARTICLE 30. 

Decrees, regulations, and other acts in force in the colony shall preserve their 
obligatory force, with the exception of those provisions which are contrary to 
the present law and which are abrogated. 

ARTICLE 31. 

Each year there shall be presented to the Chambers, in the name of the King, 
a report on the administration of the colony. This report shall be included 
with the proposed budget. 

It shall contain all the information necessary to enlighten the deputies on 
the political, economical, financial, and moral situation in the Belgian Kongo. 



No. 59. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No ^22 1 American Legation, 

-■ ' Brussels, April 7, 1908. 

Sir • I have the honor to report that, in compliance Avith the instruc- 
tions contained in the department's cablegram of April 1, I to-day 
called at the foreign office and left with M. Davignon a memorandum 
(copy inclosed) somewhat upon the lines of the British instructions, 
but differing in some important particulars. ^ . ^ . ^, . . , 

I have called attention to the objects to which, in the opinion of 
our Government, reforms should be directed, but have carefully 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 7 



98 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

avoided the suggestion of the modus operandi for carrying these 

reforms into execution. ,^^ . t • t ^ ^ • l.^ i. 

In delivering the memorandum to M. Davignon, 1 said to him that 
it was not to be understood as a new expression of our views, but 
rather as an ampler and clearer statement of those which I had the 
honor to verbally make known to him upon the occasion of the inter- 
view which he had accorded me in company with the British minister. 
I have, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure to dispatch No. 322.] 
Memorandwm. 

The nota pro memoria, re the attitude of Belgium in the event of the annexa- 
tion of the Kongo, handed this legation on January 29 by His Excellency M. 
Davignon, was duly transmitted to Washington, and the assurances therein con- 
tained of the earnest purpose of the Belgian Government, in the event that the 
government and administration of the Kongo should be transferred to it, to fully 
carry out the stipulations and beneficent prescriptions of the acts of Berlin and 
Brussels, were noted with lively satisfaction. 

In the entirely amicable and unofficial representation preceding, and which 
gave occasion to the note pro memoria, it was not the intention of the Govern- 
ment of the United States to in any way call into question the high and disin- 
terested purposes which, it is satisfied, govern Belgium in the consideration of 
the question of the annexation of the Kongo territories. On the contrary, the 
Government of the United States, finding that much is left to be desired in the 
present administration of the Kongo from the standpoint of the acts of Brussels 
and Berlin, gladly welcomes annexation, and is firmly convinced that the as- 
sumption of the government of these regions by Belgium will be followed by 
improvement in the condition of the native races, by the development and 
civilization of the country, and by the liberation of trade and commerce from 
harmful restrictions. 

The Government of the United States, however, feels that as a signatory to 
the Brussels act it has assumed certain well-defined obligations, which may not 
be lightly evaded and which at this moment of transition, when the govern- 
ment of the Kongo territories is about to be transferred from one power to 
another, make imperative a clear, though brief, expression of its views. 

The dissatisfaction with the present administration of the Kongo has grown 
very largely out of its policy toward the native races — a policy which was doubt- 
less not intentionally cruel nor purposely at variance with the acts of Brussels 
and Berlin, but which, in the opinion of competent investigators, is enslaving, 
degrading, and decimating the native population. It may be admitted that there 
has been much exaggeration of the true condition of affairs and that many 
charges have been refuted, but the fact nevertheless remains that conditions 
prevail which were neither contemplated nor anticipated when the Independent 
Kongo State was called into existence by the powers. 

The Government of the United States believes that whatsoever power as- 
sumes dominion over the Kongo should address itself with reasonable dispatch 
to carrying into practical execution, in letter and in spirit, the prescriptions of 
the Brussels and Berlin acts. 

In the opinion of the Government of the United States the reforms to be 
accomplished in the Kongo should have for their object: 

1. The exemption of the native population from excessive taxation. 

2. The inhibition of forced labor. 

3. The possibility of the untives becoming holders, in permanent tenancy, of 
tracts of land sufficiently large to afford sustenance. 

4. To make it possible for traders and settlers of all nationalities to secure 
unoccupied tracts of land, needed for the prosecution and development of peace- 
ful commerce, at reasonable prices, in any part of the Kongo. 

5. The procurement and guaranty of equal and exact justice to all inhab- 
itants of the Kongo through the establishment and maintenance of an inde- 
pendent judiciary. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 99 

• ■'■fl ^^}}^^S attention to what, in its opinion, sliould be the objects of reform 
m the Kongo, the Government of the United States may be permitted to add 
on Its own account, that, relying on the stipulations of articles 2 and 4 of the 
treaty of 1891, it would be especially pleased to see the right accorded to 
American Christian missionaries to secure reasonable sized tracts of land when 
not occupied by the State, in permanent holding, to be used for missionary sites 
and schools. "^ 

The Government of the United States confines itself in this memorandum to 
pointing out the direction in which, in its judgment, radical reforms and changes 
are needed. It does not believe that it is incumbent upon it to indicate or sug- 
gest to the Belgian Government the modus operandi for carrying these reforms 
into execution, well knowing the difficulties that must be surmounted and being 
fully cognizant of the unselfish purposes of the annexing power Its repre- 
sentations are conceived and made in an entirely friendly spirit and it is hoped 
that they will receive that measure of consideration from the Belgian Govern- 
ment to which they are entitled by their disinterestedness and by the long and 
traditional friendship which has existed between the two countries 



No. 60. 

The B7'itish Ambassador to the Secretary of State. 

No. 75.] Beitish Embassy, 

Washington, April 7, 1908. 

Sir : I have received a telegram from Sir E. Grey, instructing me 
to inform jou of the line of policy which he proposes to adopt 
toward the Belgian Government with reference to the Kongo 
question. 

He states that it is his intention to request the Belgian Government 
to issue a declaration to the effect that, if the Kongo Free State is 
taken over by Belgium, their first object will be to put an end to the 
forced-labor system which has been so fully described in reports sent 
home by British and United States representatives in the Kongo 
State. 

The Belgian Government have, continues Sir E. Grey, informed 
His Majesty's Government that they recognize the obligations im- 
posed by the Berlin act. But they have not yet stated whether or not 
they consider the commercial monopolies established under actual 
concessions and the general commercial policy adopted by the exist- 
ing government of the Kongo as inconsistent with the provisions of 
that act respecting freedom of trade. 

Sir Edward Grey proposes, therefore, to ask that if any differences 
of opinion should arise in respect of commercial as distinct from 
humanitarian questions the Belgian Government should agree to 
refer such differences to arbitration. 

In explaining the above to you, I am desired to express the hope 
that if the views of the United States Government prove to be similar 
to those above outlined they may see their way to supporting the line 
proposed to be adopted by Sir E. Grey, and that in that event in- 
structions may be telegraphed to the United States minister at 
Brussels accordingly. 

I have, etc., James Brycb. 



100 AFPAIBS IN THE KONGO. 

No. 61. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No 323 1 American Legation, 

Brussels, April 8, 1908. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith three copies of the 
proposed Kongo annexation bill which has just been reported to the 
Belgian Parliament by the committee of seventeen. I also transmit 
three copies of the proposed bill for the government of the Belgian 
colonial possessions reported by the same committee. 
I have the honor, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 

Note. — Inclosures not printed. 



No. 62. 

The Secretary of State to the British Amhassador. 

No. 287.] Department or State, 

Washington, April 8, 1908. 

Excellency : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
note No. 75 of the 7th instant and to thank you for the information 
therein contained regarding the line of policy which Sir Edward Grey 
proposes to adopt toward the Belgian Government with reference to 
the Kongo question. 

You inform the department that it is Sir Edward Grey's intention 
to request the Belgian Government to issue a declaration to the effect 
that, if the Independent State of the Kongo is taken over by Belgium, 
their first object will be to put an end to the forced-labor system which 
has been so fully described in reports sent by United States and 
British representatives in the Kongo State. 

It appears from the information you have received from Sir 
Edward Grey that the Belgian Government have informed His 
Majesty's Government that they recognize the obligations imposed by 
the Berlin act, but that they have not jQ,t stated whether or not they 
consider the commercial monopolies established under actual conces- 
sions and the general commercial policy adopted by the existing 
government of the Kongo as inconsistent with the provisions of that 
act respecting freedom of trade. 

You add that Sir Edward Grey proposes therefore to ask that if 
any difference of opinion should arise in respect of commercial as 
distinct from humanitarian questions the Belgian Government should 
agree to refer such differences to arbitration. 

In response to these views, which you are so good as to make 
known to the department, I have the honor to state that the depart- 
ment has this day instructed by telegraph the American minister at 
Brussels to join in representations in the same sense as those proposed 
to be made by Sir Edward Grey. 

I have the honor, etc., Elihu Root. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 101 

No. 63. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

Brussels, April <5, 1908. 
Memorandum in the sense of department's telegram of April 1 
with minister for foreign aifairs of Belgium yesterday. 

Wilson. 



No. 64. 

The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. 

[Telegram.] 

Department or State, 

Washington.^ April 8, 1908. 
Eeferring to and confirming my telegram of the 1st instant, the 
British ambassador has furnished me with a full statement of the 
views of the British Government regarding the reform measures 
necessary to insure good administration in the Kongo, and its doubts 
whether the commercial monopolies established under actual con- 
cessions and the general commercial policy of the existing Kongo 
government are consistent with the provisions of the Berlin act. 
Great Britain proposes to ask that if differences of opinion should 
arise in respect of commercial as distinct from humanitarian questions 
the Belgian Government should agree to refer such differences to arbi- 
tration. These views are doubtless in the possession of your British 
colleague. Inasmuch as the treaties to which the United States is 
party stipulate for commercial and residential privileges, we can 
expect no less favorable treatment than any other power, and should 
endeavor and assist to bring about equal and just privilege for all. 
You will in conference with the British minister and in your repre- 
sentations to the Belgian Government support the line proposed to be 
adopted by the British minister for foreign affairs. 

Root. 



No. 65. 

Consul- General Smith to the Assistant Secretary of State. 

American Consulate-General, 

Boma^ April 9, 1908. 
Sir: 1 have the honor to send you herewith a report in duplicate 
on the land legislation in the Kongo in its relation to the commercial 
policy of the State. 

In the report which I had the honor to send you on November 20 
last I referred to the Government of the Kongo Free State as being 
essentially a commercial organization and not, in the true sense of 
the term, an administrative one. The conditions existing in that 



102 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

part of the country which I visited all went to prove the truth of the 
conclusion reached. The extent to which the State has succeeded in 
its efforts to create for itself a vast monopoly of all the natural re- 
sources of the territory placed under its control by the signatory 
powers to the Berlin act, and without regard for the material well- 
being of the natives or the rights of other powers to carry on a 
free and unrestricted commerce with the inhabitants of such terri- 
tory, can, perhaps, best be appreciated by an explanation of the 
manner in which the entire country is at present divided among a 
few large concessionary or j^roprietary comi3anies, in which the State 
holds in most cases a direct interest, or is exploited en regie by the 
State itself, and a brief review of the principal decrees which have 
brought about the conditions as they exist at present, conditions 
which I do not hesitate to say are essentially opposed to every in- 
telligent conception of what a humane and civilizing administra- 
tion of a colony peopled by a subject race should aim at creating. As 
has been well said by my colleague, Mr. Armstrong, the British vice- 
consul at Leopoldville, in a report to his Government on the result 
of his observations in the Lake Leopold II district : 

I saw nothing wliich led me to view the occupation of this country in the 
light of an administration. The undertaliings of the Government are solely 
commercial, with a sufficient administrative power to insure the safety of its 
personnel and the success of its enterprise ; the natives have no time or oppor- 
tunity to raise or to discuss questions which in normal conditions require the 
presence and careful consideration of administrators, and therefore the State 
appears to treat them as negligible quantities. 

I have, etc., 

Jas. a. Smith, Gonsul-Gdneral. 



[Inclosure.] 



Land Legislation in the Kongo and Its Relation to the Commekcial Policy 
OF the Administration. 

The history of the legislation in reference to the lands comprh^ed within the 
territory of the State dates back to 1SS5. On the 1st of July of that year an 
ordinance issued by the administrator-general declared that no one had the 
right without title to occupy the vacant lands, nor to dispossess the natives 
of the land occupied by them; the vacant lands were considered as belonging 
to the State. This ordinance was followed by the royal decrees of September 
14, 1886, which declared that the territory occupied by the natives, under the 
authority of their chiefs, would continue to be governed in accordance with local 
usages and customs, and by that of June 8, 1888, establishing the rights of the 
natives to continue to exploit for their own benefit the mines situated upon 
land occupied by them. Although the text of the above ordinance and decrees 
did not define what was to be considered as vacant land, nor that occupied by 
the natives, a liberal interpretation appears to have been given the provisions 
contamed therein, with the result that the natives suffered practically no 
curtailment of their rights over their lands and the products thereof. Capital 
was attracted to the country and Europeans were allowed to take possession 
of unoccupied lands without previous authorization, becoming full proprietors 
of the same to the extent of 10 hectares (25 acres) by the small payment of 
approximately $20. The policy of the State at that period seemed to aim at 
the encouragement of free and unrestricted trade with the natives; it limited 
the extent of land sold or leased to individuals or companies in such manner 

therefrom^ '^'^ "^"""^'^ '"^^"^* ""^^ *^^ "''*''^'' ^^^^^'^ "" material benefit 

•In 1891, however the State decided to exploit its own territory— that is, the 

vacant lands which it had declared in 1885 were the property of the State 



AFFAIRS m THE KONGO. 103 

A royal decree of the 21st of September of that year, which was not made 
public, charged the commissioners of certain districts to take urgent and neces- 
sary measures to " conserver a la disposition de I'Etat " the products of its 
domain, notably rubber and ivory. This decree would doubtless have been 
valueless to the State from a pecuniary standpoint without its inevitable conse- 
quence — the forced labor of the native to gather the products of the territory. 
The almost immediate result was the issuance of three circulars by the commis- 
sioners of certain districts, as follows : That of the commissioner of the district 
of Ubangi-Uele (Bangala, 15th December, 1891), which forbade the natives to 
hunt the elephant unless the ivory was brought to the State ; that of the com- 
missioner of the Equator district (Basankusu, Sth May, 1S92), prohibiting the 
native from gathering rubber unless they delivered the same to the State; and 
finally that of the commander of an expedition to the upper Ubangi River 
(Yakusu, 14th February, 1892), forbidding the natives to sell or divert to their 
own profit any part of the ivory or rubber, products of the domain. This cir- 
cular further provided that any trader who bought of the natives these products, 
of which the State only authorized the gathering on condition that they were 
delivered to itself, would render himself liable as a receiver of stolen goods and 
be denounced as such before the judicial authorities. No sooner did these cir- 
culars appear than the trading companies already established in the Kongo 
j^rotested against this flagrant violation of the Berlin act, the State responding 
by invoking the principle of its proprietorship over the vacant lands and its 
absolute right to dispose of the products of its own domain as it saw fit. In 
substance, this contention is the main line of defense put forward by the State 
to-day as a justification of its commercial policy. The result, however, of the 
protest of the trading companies was the withdrawal of the circulars and the 
issuance of the decree of October 30, 1892, which practically divided the State 
into three grand zones. In the first the State reserved to itself the exclusive 
right to exploit the rubber. By the decree of December 5, 1892, it was declared 
that this portion was to constitute the Domaine Prive of the State and be 
exploited en regie. In reality it formed only a part of the Domaine Priv§. 
The ordinance of July 1, 1885, already alluded to, having declared that all the 
recent lands were to be considered as belonging to the State, the portion thus 
set aside for exclusive exploitation can properly be described as the " Domaine 
Prive stricto seusu." This is the definition given by Professor Cattier, pro- 
fessor of the University at Brussels, in his work "Droit et Administration de 
rfitat Independant du Congo." To avoid confusion, and understand the manner 
in which the territory of the State is at present partitioned, it is necessary to 
have this definition in mind. 

Another portion, the immense territory formed by the basins of the Kongo- 
Lualaba and upper Lomami rivers, was provisionally reserved, but a part was 
later absorbed into the " domaine prive stricto sensu " and remains closed to 
private traders, and the balance conceded to the comite de Katanga. In the 
third zone, comprising the balance of the vacant lands, the gathering of rubber 
by private parties was authorized. Apparently this provision opened up a 
large section of the territory in which private parties could everywhere trade 
freely with the natives in the products of the soil. By the terms of the de- 
cree, however, the authorization to exploit rubber was subject to the rights 
already acquired by third parties, or which might be acquired by them in 
future through purchase or lease of the domainal lands, provision being made 
that those who thus acquired lands should be granted the right to exploit rub- 
ber within a maximum radius of 30 kilometers around their establishments 
On the face of it this provision was designed to encourage the founding of 
numerous trading houses, with limited areas of land at their disposal for ex- 
ploitation. In reality, and as events have proved, it was but a mere artifice 
which did more credit to the business foresight of the Sovereign than to hon- 
esty of purpose. No mention was made in the decree of concessions, and, m 
an official circular issued under date of December 5, 1898, the governor-gen- 
eral was careful to impress upon those interested the distinction necessary to 
make between the rights of exploitation on purchased or leased lands and those 
on lands granted in concession. Thus, on the former these rights extended 
over a maximum of 30 kilometers only, but on the latter they were limited 
only by the boundaries of such concession, the area of which might be fixed as 
best suited the purposes of the State. In the section thus set aside for ex- 
ploitation bv private parties was included, notably, the immense Kasai district 
and the territory to the east of it known as the Kwango district, together 
wUh a large part of what is now the domaine de la Couronne. This domaine, 



104 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

which wns established later on (1896), reduced the free-trade zone very ma- 
terially, in that the exploitation of rubber and ivory in the whole of its im- 
mense' territory is reserved exclusively for the benefit of the Crown. In the 
Kasai district a number of trading houses (14 in all) acquired small par- 
cels of land and commenced trading with the natives, under, however, a 
veiled system of coercion which it is unnecessary to detail here. In any case 
the result was a competition which, although beneficial to the native, did not 
correspond evidently to the royal intention to monopolize to the fullest extent 
the tiade in everv product of commercial value. For this reason the State pro- 
voked the consolidation of the various trading houses and organized the well- 
known Kasai comranv— in which it retains a half interest— with exclusive 
rights of exploitation of the rubber, ivory, etc., in the immense territory com- 
prised within the Kasai and in portions of the Lake Leopold II district. Other 
immense monopolistic concessions, always with the State receiving a large in- 
terest in the enternrise. were granted. 

At the present time the entire territory of the State may be, for the sake of 
a clear understanding of the existing situation, divided into six sections: (1) 
Doniaine public: (2) domaine prive; (3) domaine national ; (4) domaine de la 
Couronne; (5) land acquired by nonnatives (individuals, trading companies, 
and missions) ; (6) lands occupied by natives. 

1. The domaine public comprises the navigable waterways and their banks 
to a depth of 10 meters (33 feet) from high-water mark, highways, railways, 
property affected to the public service, fortresses, etc. No part of this domaine 
is subject to private ownership. 

2. The domaine prive included at the beginning all of the territory within 
tlie boundaries of the State. The State at various times has alienated or con- 
ceded large areas of its territories to proprietary or concessionary companies 
for their exclusive exploitation of the products of the soil, and, notably, to the 
Fondation de la Couronne. In June, 1906, a royal decree provided that all 
the mines not already conceded and all the lands administered en regie (do- 
maine I'rive stricto sensu) should constitute the domaine national. The do- 
maine prive at present includes, therefore, only the vacant lands not exploited 
en regie or which have not been alienated or conceded. 

3. The domaine national, in accordance with the June, 1906, decree, com- 
prises all the mines and all the lands exploited en regie and all the mines not 
already given in concession. 

4. The domaine de la Couronne is an immense section of territory alienated 
from the former domaine prive. It is the property of the Fondation de la 
Couronne. 

5. Lands acquired by nonnatives are those which have been at one time or 
another detached from the domaine prive and sold, rented, or conceded by the 
State to individuals, companies, or missionary societies. 

6. Lands occupied by the natives comprise only those actually occupied by 
their villages, or are under cultivation or exploited by them. A decree of 
June 3, 1906, provided that these lands should be delimitated and an area 
three times the extent of same be granted to the natives for the extension of 
their cultures. They can not, however, be disposed of to third parties without 
the express authorization of the governor-general. As a matter of fact the 
boundaries have, in rare cases only, been fixed, the delimitation, according to 
tlie best ruthoriHes, having been made of only about 150 villages in all. To 
the native, therefore, simply remains the right to occupy the laud in his village 
and to cultivate his surrounding gardens. All the rest of the land, and the 
jiroducts of any commercial value thereof, belong to the State, the Fondation 
de la Couronne, and the proprietary or concessionary companies. 

On the map annexed to this report the various divisions of the territory are 
very clearly shown. It is, I am assured, as accurate as any similar map which, 
in the absence of precise delimitations of river basins, etc., can at present be 
prepared. I have outlined in blue pencil the district in which the Fondation de 
la Couronne has reserved the exclusive mining privileges. 

As has been stated, the domaine prive comprises at present only the lands not 
exploited by the State, or which have not in one way or another been alienated 
Ihese, according to the best authorities, comprise only an infinitesimal iX)rtion 
?! ^ .teri'itory of the State. In a recent conversation which Mr. Armstrong, 
the British vice-consul at Leopoldville, had with Doctor Briart, the director of 
the Societe Anonyme Relge (S. A. B.), the latter illustrated bv means of a map 
how much of the Kongo was given over to concessionary companies or formed 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 105 

part of the domaine national exploited by the State, and from this illustration 
the only part of the country accessible to private individuals was a small strip 
of country along the north bank of the Kongo River, between, roughly speaking 
Nouvelle Anvers and Stanley Falls. Doctor Briart, who has been in the Kongo 
some twelve or fifteen years, then described how he had been driven out of 
various parts of the Kongo by the Government, where he had been, in most 
cases, the first to attempt to trade. He was the first trader to visit the Lake 
Leopold II country, where he carried on operations for some time— Ubangi, 
Stanley Falls. Kasai, etc. ; and having been ordered to leave each of these dis- 
tricts manu militari, he was eventually allotted the Busira and Juapa rivers, 
where he is still working. I may mention here that thp S. A. B. Company, of 
which Doctor Briart is director, is part proprietor of the section of territory 
marked No. 1 on the map. This land was granted outright, and I believe very 
properly, to the builders of the railroad from Matadi to Leopoldville in return 
for their enterprise in the construction of the road. Here, at least, the State 
could not invoke its right to the products of the soil and order oft the people 
who desired to purchase them from the natives. 

I have attempted in the foregoing to explain as clearly as possible the system of 
land legislation in its relation to the State's commercial policy from the founda- 
tion of the State up to the present time. The subject is a somewhat difficult and 
complicated one, but the decrees cited are, I believe, the most important and those 
upon which the land regime of the State is based to-day. The principal points 
to which I would call your special attention are as follows : The intimate connec- 
tion between the laud legislation and the commercial policy of the State. In a 
successful attempt to effectually monopolize every product of commercial value 
the interpretation given to the decree of July 1, 1SS5, regarding vacant and occu- 
pied lands has resulted in depriving the native of every right to the products of 
the soil outside of his own village, and under the thin guise of taxation he is 
forced to deliver these products to the State. Incidentally, it may be said here 
that even the product of his manioc garden (his daily bread) does not really 
belong to him. He must furnish it as a tax whenever and wherever the State 
demands it. (See my report of November 20 regarding kwanga tax at various 
places.) It seems an absurd proposition to deprive an individual of everything 
of any value which he possesses and then heavily tax him on what has been 
taken from him, and yet this is what actually occurs in the Kongo. It is called 
a tax in labor ; in effect it amounts to the enslavement of the greater part of 
the entire population, niale and female. With practically the entire territory 
of the State given over to concessionary or proprietary companies for exclusive 
exploitation, the domaine de la Couronne and the domoiue national exploited- 
by the State itself, it is clear that under present conditions no opoprtunity 
remains for any independent business house to carry on a trade with the natives 
in the only products of commercial value which the country produces, viz, rubber 
and ivory. The rights granted to concessionary companies to exploit huge sec- 
tions of the country mean simply the right to exploit the native. Until such 
time as the latter is granted the privilege, and without being forced, to freely 
dispose of the products of the soil to whom and under such conditions as he 
pleases, no such thing as free trade can exist in the Kongo. This is, I firmly 
believe, the crucial point in the whole commercial situation. I may add that 
this privilege must necessarily be accompanied by the right of prospective com- 
mercial houses to acquire sufficient land for the establishment of trading centers, 
stores warehouses, etc. The privilege of acquiring lands for such purposes has 
been persistently and systematically refused by the State for many years, evi- 
dently because— it being impossible to trace the exact place of origin of the 
rubber or ivory — the State fears its exclusive monopoly, and that of the conces- 
sionary companies in which it is interested might suffer. 

I recently rddreesed to the governor-general here a letter in which I asked a 
series of questions with the object of ascertaining if it would be possible for 
an American company to establish itself in various districts of the State for the 
purpose of carrying on a trade direct Vv^ith the natives in rubber and ivory, 
and, if so, if the State would sell sufiicient land to permit of the erection of 
warehouses, stores, etc., in order to enable it to do so. The governor's reply 
was a vague one, in which he carefully avoided a direct answer to my ques- 
tions citing a lot of decrees, etc.. with which I was already familiar. In ef- 
fect, he toid me nothing I did not know before. As regards the purchase of 
land he simply refers me to the decree of June 3, 1908, " Torres domaniales— 
Vente et location," in which it is provided that all sales or leases of land out- 



IQQ AFFAISS IN THE KONGO. 

side the domaine national must take place by public auction, a list of sucb 
lands placed on sale or for lease to be published annually by the secretary of 
state at Brussels. No such list has up to the present time been published, and 
past experience is sufficient to prove that in every case where it has been de- 
sired to secure land for commercial purposes the application has been system- 

Jas. a. Smith, Consul-General. 
BoMA, April 9, 190S. 

No. 66. 

Ambassador Reid to the Secretary of State. 

No. 582.] American Embassy, 

London,, April 16,, 1908. 
Sir : With reference to Mr. Carter's No. 567 of the 31st ultimo, re- 
lating to the annexation of the Kongo by Belgium, which inclosed a 
copy of a dispatch on that subject from Sir Edward Grey to the 
British minister at Brussels, in which reference was made to a memo- 
randum which should have accompanied the dispatch, I now have 
the honor to inclose '' herewith a copy of the memorandum in ques- 
tion, which I have received to-day from the foreign office. 
I have, etc., 

Whitelaw Reid. 



No. 67. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 329.] American Legation, 

Brussels, April 17, 1908. 

Sir: Referring to the department's telegram of April 8, the true 
reading of which was confirmed in my No. 325, I have the honor to 
report that on Friday, April 3, the British minister. Sir Arthur 
Hardinge, informed me that he had been verbally advised of the 
purpose of his Government to hand in memoranda on the subject of 
forced labor and the reference to arbitration of purely commercial 
and economic questions to the Belgian Government, and that he 
would be glad to know whether we would be inclined to give our 
sujDport to the proposals therein contained. 

I replied that I had just, in compliance with telegraphic instruc- 
tions received from the department on April 2, handed a memo- 
randum to_ M. Davignon, which to some extent covered the points 
contained in the proposed memoranda of the British Government, 
and that a request for additional instructions, immediately follow- 
ing my telegram reporting the delivery of our memorandum, might 
possibly lead to confusion. 

In order, therefore, that the views of the department mi^ht be 
clearly ascertained, I suggested to Sir Arthur the desirability of hav- 
ing Ambassador Bryce instrncted to advise Secretary Root of the 
purpose to submit the memoranda to the Belgian Government, and 



» See Africa No, 3, p. 113. 



AFPAIES IN THE KONGO. 107 

at the same time to furnish him with a full statement of the views of 
the British Government relative to these questions. 

Acting upon my suggestion, Sir Arthur immediately sent the tele- 
gram to London, which doubtless brought about the visit of Am- 
bassador Bryce to Secretary Root and my subsequent telegraphic 
instructions of April 8. 

Upon receipt of these instructions, I immediately sought an inter- 
view with Sir Arthur Hardinge, and informed him that I had been 
instructed to " support the line proposed to be adopted by the British 
minister for foreign affairs," and that I would be glad to have his 
views as to the course which should be adopted. 

_x\fter some discussion it was agreed that on the Monday following 
Sir Arthur should have an interview with M. Davignon, and hand 
in his memoranda, and that the presentation of the memorandum 
from this legation should follow after an interval of three or four 
days. It was also agreed that in the course of his interview he 
would advise M. Davignon of the exchange of views which had 
taken place between the British embassj^ in Washington and the 
Secretary of State, and would intimate that in all probability a com- 
munication in support of the British propositions would be received 
from this legation. 

In performance of this programme Sir Arthur saw M. Davignon 
on Monday afternoon, and immediately afterwards sent me a note 
reporting the substance of the interview. 

Yesterday (Thursday, 16th) I visited the foreign office and in the 
absence of M. Davignon, wdio was in attendance on the discussion 
of the Kongo annexation bill in Parliament, I delivered the memo- 
randum (which I had prepared and previously submitted to my Brit- 
ish colleague) to the Chevalier van der Elst, secretary-general of 
the foreign office, after having first verbally informed him of its 
contents. A copy of the memorandum is herewith inclosed. 

******* 

Immediately after this interview I saw Sir Arthur Hardinge, and 
he advised me of his intention to ask London for immediate instruc- 
tions relative to the memorandum on the arbitration of commercial 
and economic questions. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure 2 to dispatch No. 329.] 

Minister Wilson to the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

[Memorandum.] 

April 16, 1908. 

The Government of His Britannic Majesty has recently, through the medium 
of its ambassador at Washington, advised the American Government of its 
intention to submit, for the consideration of the Belgian Government, two 
propositions: First, immediate and effective abolition of forced labor as soon 
as the Belgian Government shall have annexed and taken administrative con- 
trol of the Kongo; second, reference to arbitration, where the governments 
concerned may be unable to agree, of all purely commercial and economic ques- 
tions arising out of conflicting interpretation of existing treaties. 

The Govei-nment of His Britannic Majesty, in making known to the Govern- 
ment of Washington its purpose to submit these two propositions to the Gov- 
ernment of Belgium, has at the same time begged to be advised of the views 
of the American Government thereon, and has expressed the hope that, if they 



108 AFFAIES m THE KONGO. 

should meet with its approval and concnrreuce, a conformable expression 
niis^ht be made to the Government of the King. 

After a carefnl study of the propositions, M'hich are understood to be niterde- 
peudent and talcen conjunctively, the American Government hastens to say that 
it most cordially and unreservedly approves of proposition No. 1, relative to 

forced labor. ^. ^ 

The views of the American Government with reference to the question of 
forced lal^or in the Kongo have been so frequently and clearly expressed to the 
Belgian Government that recurrence to them at this time may be considered 
superfluous and unnecessarily insistent. Leaving, therefore, to the British 
Government the task of presenting the arguments in extenso against the con- 
tinuance of all forms of slavery or quasi slavery in the Kongo, as well as the 
suggestion of methods for reforming existing evils, the American Government 
conhnes itself to the simple request that the Belgian Government, in the event 
that it shall annex the Kongo territories, will diligently address itself to the 
execution of the provisions of the Brussels act relative to the native races, 
especially directing its attention to the prescriptions of articles 2 and 5. 

Relative to proposition No. 2, the reference to arbitration of all purely com- 
mercial and economic questions, the American Government limits itself at this 
time to an expression of the hope that the Belgian Government may see its way 
clear to frankly and promptly accept a proposition so reasonable and so entirely 
in accordance with the rapidly growing practice of civilized nations. 

The American Government, however, may be permitted to say that, while not 
directly interested in the administrative details of the government of any one of 
the several districts embraced in the compact of 1890, it yet confidently relies 
uix)n the rights secured to it by existing treaties of being accorded all the 
privileges, commercial and otherwise, accorded in the Kongo to other nations. 

The American Government, while thus making known its concurrence with 
and adherence to the propositions submitted to the Belgian Government by the 
government of His Britannic Majesty, does not permit itself to doubt that the 
brief and frank expression of its \ lews will receive the careful attention and 
consideration of the Government of the King. 



No. 68. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 330.] American Legation, 

Brussels, April 17, 1908. 

Sir: I have the honor to report the opening of the discussion of the 
Kongo finnexation bill in the Belgian Parliament on Wednesday, the 
15th instant. 

The debate was opened by the premier, Mr. Schollaert, who an- 
nounced the purpose of the Government to encourage an ample dis- 
cussion of the whole question of annexation and proposed that the 
additional act of the treaty, the treaty itself, and the colonial law 
should be voted upon in the order named, in one sitting, after a con- 
clusion of the debate. 

The leaders of the opposition having expressed themselves satis- 
fied with this declaration, Mr. Schollaert continued his argument for 
annexation. He traced the history of the Kongo from 1878 to the 
picsent day, alluding to the results obtained by the sovereign's initia- 
tive and by the efforts of Belgian soldiers, explorers, and mission- 
aries; he claimed that the Kongo administration of justice compared 
favorably witli that of the central African possessions of other 
powers. As to the international aspect of the question, he said : 

We are firmly decided to fulfill scrupulously all the obligations which result 
tor us from the conventions, and especially from the treaty of Berlin. 



AFFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 109 

He then proceeded to an exhaustive statement of the value of the 
territories which it was proposed to annex, comparing them with pos- 
sessions of other powers in Asia and Africa. He said the Govern- 
ment would take steps to enable private persons of all nationalities 
to acquire lands for the purpose of trade, and that the prices for 
which large tracts had already been sold to corporations were calcu- 
lated to allaj^ apprehensions as to the financial aspects of annexation. 
Much of what followed was devoted to an enumeration of the sociai^ 
and moral advantages which would result from annexation, 

Mr. Davignon, the minister for foreign affairs, followed Mr. Schol- 
laert. 

He admitted in the course of his remarks that two powers, Great 
Britain and the United States, had asked how it was intended to 
apply the provisions of the Berlin act in the matter of international 
rights and freedom of trade. He said that it was not possible at this 
time to recount the character of the negotiations, but that the declara- 
tions of the premier clearly indicated the intentions of the Govern- 
ment. Mr. Davignon concluded his speech with the following 
moderate and dignified statement: 

The Government will see to it that the taxation falling upon the natives 
shall be moderate, and Belgium will pursue the realization of reforms of all 
kinds. No one can doubt the loyalty of our intentions. We have an ideal 
and nothing shall prevent us from realizing it. We shall know how to respond 
to the wishes of a nation sincerely eager for colonization, and to justify the 
confidence of Europe. On various occasions the Chamber has announced its 
intention of maintaining complete independence and liberty in its votes and the 
Government realizes that this will be done. No one will be able to doubt our 
honesty or good faith. The loyalty with which we have fulfilled our engage- 
ments in the past is the guaranty of what we shall do in the future in regard 
to the Kongo. 

Mr. Woeste, leader of the extreme Right, spoke at some length, 
commenting severely upon the English and American reform cam- 
paign, and affirming his belief that the object of these intrigues was 
the defeat of the pending annexation bill. 

Mr. Destree, Socialist, made a rather violent speech, urging an 
unlimited discussion of the pending question, and threatening the 
Government with obstruction unless a full expression of the views 
of the different political parties represented in the Chamber was 
permitted. 

The president of the Chamber announced at the close of the day's 
discussion that, under an agreement of the majority, the Chamber 
would meet in regular session every afternoon (except holidays) until 
May 9 for the consideration of the annexation bill ; that after the elec- 
tions, which occur on May 24, Parliament would be called in extraor- 
dinary session at a date^ fixed some time in June; that if at that 
time all of the members inscribed for the debate had spoken the vote 
upon the entire question would be taken at one sitting. 

This declaration met with the approval of all the political elements 

in the Chamber, and it may be therefore safely assumed that the final 

vote on annexation will be had some time in June or July. 

I have, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



XIO APFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

No. 69. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No 334 1 American Legation, 

Brussels, April H, 1908. 

Sir : Since my No. 330, of April 17, there has been — on account of 
flie adjournment of Parliament for the Easter holidays — only a 
single discussion of the Kongo question. 

Mr. de Broxqueville (Catholic Eight) spoke at length upon the 
commercial advantages of the Kongo. He referred to the large 
amount of private capital invested in the country and stated that 
eighty-five companies were at present engaged in developing the 
natural resources of the Kongo basin, and affirmed that their rights 
should be respected. He admitted that the payment of taxes in 
labor must continue until a circulating medium could be introduced, 
but said that it should be the aim of Belgium to change these con- 
ditions as soon as possible. He said that all the wealth of the colony 
would not justify the murder of a single man. 

Mr. Bertrand (leader of the Socialist antiannexationists) made a 
vigorous speech accusing Mr. de Broxqueville and other defenders 
of the present regime of being personally interested in various Kongo 
companies. He asked, " What has the Kongo State done with its 
millions ? " " What had works of embellishment to do with the 
Kongo ? " He claimed that the annual deficit would be at least 
$3,000,000, and asserted that the stocks and shares belonging to the 
State, which were valued in December at $10,500,000, were now 
worth only $5,500,000, and that Belgian Government bonds had 
experienced a heavy fall in consequence of the prospect of annexation. 

The Chamber resumed its sittings yesterday, but the debate on the 
annexation question was unimportant. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



No. 70. 
The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson, 

No. 159.] Department of State, 

Washington, April 29, 1908. 

Sir : I have to acknoAvledge the receipt of your No. 319, of the 1st 
instant, transmitting official correspondence regarding conditions in 
the Independent State of the Kongo. 

Your course seems to have been in accordance with the department's 
telegraphic instructions, and is approved. Keeping in touch with 
the British minister, you will continue to cooperate with him in this 
matter where the interests of the two governments are identical, 
though resting on different treaties. The department will await your 
further reports. 

I am, etc., Elihu Eoot. 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. Ill 

No. 71. 

Memorandum handed to the Secretarij of State hy the Belgian 

Minister. 

[Translation.] 

May 7, 1908. 

In the memorandum handed on April 7 last to the mmister for for- 
eign affairs by His Excellency Mr. Henry Lane Wilson," the Govern- 
ment of the United States was pleased to express its conviction that 
Belgimn's action in taking over the Kongo is one of noble disinter- 
estedness. The King's Government is particularly sensible of this 
opinion and is glad to note that the Cabinet of Washington looks with 
satisfaction to the forthcoming annexation of the Kongo by Belgium. 

The Government of the United States holds that, as a signatory 
to the general act of the Brussels conference, it is bound to express 
its views concerning the existing condition of things in the Kongo, 
which, although it has been overdrawn, does not meet the expecta- 
tions of the powers. It points, in this connection, to a series of re- 
forms having for their object the exemption of the natives from 
excessive taxation and forced labor, the possibility of their owning 
such area of land as they may need, the granting to foreigners of the 
right to secure tracts of land for the development of their comm^ercial 
undertakings, and, lastly, the establishment of an independent 
judiciary. 

As regards the first three points indicated by the Government of 
the United States, the King's Government has already had occasion 
to make its view^s public. Through the chief of the cabinet and the 
minister for foreign affairs addressing the Senate and the Chamber 
of Kepresentatives it has announced the measures it proposes to take 
in favor of the natives. Faithfully voicing the sentiments of the 
nation, which is deeply imbued with the sense of the civilizing and 
humane role it has to fill in the Kongo, it said that until the use of 
currency, which the natives are beginning to know, can be made more 
general among them, the State would see that the taxes be moderate 
and manual labor equitably recompensed ; that it would endeavor to 
introduce improved methods of cultivation throughout the territory, 
to settle the negroes, who are still in part nomadic, on lands owned 
by them and on which they can establish a permanent home, and to 
enlarge their holdings by Very broad and liberal land grants. He 
added that their commercial aptitudes would be developed and that 
they would be. furnished with the means of bringing them into play 
through manifold relations with those who bring them the blessnigs 
of civilization. 

As regards the taxation of the natives, the King's Government feels 
that its rate must be proportioned to the resources of the taxpayers, 
so as to remain moderate. It also believes that the tax to be de- 
manded in labor of the native unable to pay in money is but a tem- 
porary and provisional measure destined to gradual extinction pan 
passu with the introduction of money, which the King's Government 
is bent upon favoring to the utmost. This comes to saymg_ that 
forced labor (if tax payment in that form is meant thereby) is m- 
tended to last in the Kongo only within the same bounds and under 
the same conditions of necessity as it exists in foreign colonies. 

» See paper No. 59, p. 97. 



]^X2 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

In any event the principle of personal liberty laid down in the 
colonial bill excludes any other form of coercion. The natives can 
not be compelled, directly or indirectly, with or without compensa- 
tion, to do work for the concessionary societies, or for any other pri- 
vate concern ; labor can only be voluntary and for wages freely agreed 
upon. 

The fourth point indicated by the American memorandum, viz, 
the acquisition by foreign merchants and settlers of vacant tracts of 
land to enable them to carry on commercial undertakings, comes 
-xvithin the question of freedom of commerce. The Government of 
the United States, in its memorandum, brings to mind the assurances 
it had already received concerning the earnest purpose of the King's 
Government to act in accordance with the stipulations of the acts of 
Berlin and Brussels. Belgium ever faithfully kept the international 
engagements it entered into. As prescribed by the act of Berlin, it 
will bring the broadest economical regime into operation in its future 
colony; it will foster in the most liberal measure the expansion of 
trade and industry without discriminating between nationals and 
foreigners. It will, as declared to the Chamber of Eepresentatives 
by the head of the cabinet, see that private persons, whatever their 
nationality, may acquire such lands as they may need in the conduct 
of their business or profession. 

As to the fifth point contemplated in the memorandum, the estab- 
lishment of an independent judiciary, it has specially engaged the 
attention of the King's Government while the colonial bill now be- 
fore the Belgian chambers was in preparation. The independence 
and stability of judicial offices are formally guaranteed therein. 
Furthermore, the State of the Kongo even now has a corps of magis- 
trates much larger in proportion to its territory than any of the 
other colonies in the conventional basin, and it does not appear that 
they may be charged with any professional delinquency. 

Finally, the wish expressed by the Government of the United 
States, as its own account, that it might see the right accorded to 
American missionaries to secure tracts of land to be used for their 
missionary sites and schools, will find gratification in the Belgian 
Government's desire to please a friendly power, as well as in its ob- 
servance of the advantages the Independent State has granted by 
treaty to the citizens of the United States. 

The King's Government gives evidence of its being true to the 
traditional friendship which "binds Belgium and the United States by 
laying before the American Government, before annexing the Kongo, 
this statement of its purposes, to the sincerity of which the memo- 
randum paid a merited homage. 



No. 72. 
The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. 

[Telegram.] 

Department of State, 

Washington, May 9, 1908. 
Mr. Wilson's action, reported his 329, meets with approval this 
Government, both as to memorandum presented to minister for 



AFFAIRS JIST THE KONGO. 113 

foreign affairs and reply regarding treatment our communications 
as nnofficial prior to decisive vote upon annexation and to become 
official immediately thereafter. 

Root. 



No. 73. 
Ambassador Reid to the Secretary of State. 

No. 640.] American Embassy, 

London, June 25, 1908. 
Sir: With reference to my dispatch No. 626, of the 11th instant, I 
have the honor to inclose " herewith, for your confidential informa- 
tion, a copy of a memorandum handed by Sir Edward Grey to the 
Belgium minister in London on the subject of the affairs of the 
Independent State of the Kongo, which I have received from the 
foreign office to-day. 

I have, etc., Whitelaw Reid. 



No. 74. 

AFRICA. No. 3 (1908). 

CORBESPONDENCE RESPECTING THE TAXATION OF NATIVES, AND OTHER QUESTIONS, 

IN THE Kongo State. 
[Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty. June, 1908.] 

List of Papers. 

No. 1. Sir Edward Grey to Sir A. Hardinge, March 5, 1908. 

No. 2. Sir Edward Grey to Sir A. Hardinge (one inclosure), March 27, 1908. 

No. 3. Memorandum communicated by the Belgian minister, April 25, 1908. 



No. 1. 
Sir Edioard Grey to Sir A. Hardinge. 

Foreign Office, March 5, 1908. 

Sir: The Belgian minister called here to-day and informed me that the 
recent debates in the House of Lords and the House of Commons, and the 
statements made by Lord Fitzmaurice and myself on those occasions had sug- 
gested certain observations to his Government, who Imd instructed him to pomt 
out to His Majesty's Government in a friendly way the impression made upon 
them as well as the manner in which the present phase of the Kongo question 
was viewed by the Belgian Government, and the manner in which they consid- 
ered that question should be viewed in foreign countries. 

While recognizing the care with which Lord Fitzmaurice and subsequently I 
myself had expressed our anxiety not to arouse the susceptibilities of Belgium 
by direct interference in affairs which exclusively concerned that country. 
Count de Lalaing said that his Government were bound to admit, not without 
regret that our last statements on the subject differed from those we had made 
previously, and that we no longer seemed ready to leave them to consider at 
their discretion and in complete freedom of judgment the conditions of the 
annexation of the Kongo. 

« See "Africa, No. 4," p. 150. 
4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 8 



X14 APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

By rousing the national sentiment, always so liable in Belgium to become 
excited at anything resembling in any way pressure from without, His Maj- 
esty's Government, without being aware of it, were running the risk of rendering 
Increasingly difficult the task assumed by Belgium, and were running counter to 
the wish loudly expressed by us on more than one occasion to see Belgium an- 
nex the Independent State. 

This departure from the attitude of reserve to which His Majesty's ministers 
had so rigorously adhered at the outset took place at a time when the treaty 
which was to effect the annexation was on the point of being submitted in its 
final shape to the representatives of the nation. 

Count de Lalaing then proceeded to draw my attention to what the Belgian 
Government considered to be inaccuracies in the language used by members of 
His Majesty's Government in speaking of the transfer of the Kongo as only to 
be carried into effect on conditions satisfactory to Great Britain. It was a 
matter of great importance, he said, that these inaccuracies should not be 
allowed to take root abroad. 

The Belgian Government had only concerned itself up to the present with 
negotiating the actual treaty of cession, which was to put an end to the exist- 
ence of the independent state in favor of Belgium. This was a question which 
could only be discussed between the Belgian and Kongo governments, and which 
could admit of no interference from without. That was the first factor in the 
annexation. The Belgian Government would then, in cooperation with the 
chambers, elaborate the organic law of the future colony, which would from 
that time be subject to parliamentary control. This again, howevei*, was a 
question of internal sovereignty to be discussed between the Government and 
chambers, and could not properly form the subject of criticism on the part of 
a foreign power. 

Count de Lalaing went on to say that after the annexation of the Kongo had 
become an accomplished fact, his Government intended to take over all the obli- 
gations devolving from the Free State as well as those contracted by Belgium 
herself in signing the Berlin and Brussels acts. The special regime which those 
acts set up in the conventional basin of the Kongo would, in fact, be binding 
upon Belgium in the same manner as it was on all those powers who had pos- 
sessions in the interior of that basin. The Belgian Government did not, how- 
ever, admit that they could be required to furnish further information on the 
decisions they might be led to adopt in this respect. 

Count de Lalaing concluded by saying that the Belgian Government and Par- 
liament were on the eve of assuming responsibility for decisions of greater 
importance than any with which Belgian statesmen had been confronted since 
the establishment of the Belgian State, and that those decisions would have to 
be arrived at with all due consideration. His Majesty's Government, whose 
friendship was highly valued by the Belgian Government, could not contest or 
doubt the correctness of the Belgian attitude, nor could they better facilitate 
the annexation of the Kongo, of which they had always declared themselves 
in favor, than by abstaining from any action which at this critical juncture 
might interfere with the complete liberty of action of the Belgian Government. 
I am, etc., 

E. Grey. 



No. 2. 
Sir Edioard Grey to Sir A. Hardinge. 

Foreign Office. March 21, 1908. 

Sir : With reference to my dispatch of the 5th instant, I have to inform you 
that His JNIajesty's Government consider it desirable, in view of the conversa- 
tions respecting the Kongo question which I have had with the Belgian minister, 
for them to offer some observations to explain what is their view of the treaty 
obligations of the Kongo State, and what in their opinion is required to bring 
the administration of the State into harmony with these obligations. 

His Majesty's Go\ernment have received with much satisfaction the as- 
surances of the Belgian Government that they recognized that, after annexation, 
the territory of the Kongo State will remain subject to the provisions of the 
Berlm and Brussels acts. To these His Majesty's Government would add the 
provisions, so far as they are concerned, of the Anglo-Kongolese convention of 



AFPAIES IN THE KONGO. 115 

1884. His Majesty's Government have every confidence in the earnest desire 
of the Belgian Government to introduce thorough and far-reaching reforms into 
the present system of administration in the Kongo, and they are therefore par- 
ticularly anxious to maintain an attitude of strict forbearance, and to abstain 
from any act which mig'ht be construed as interfering with the complete liberty 
of action of the Belgian Government in the future management of the internal 
affairs of the Kongo. His Majesty's Government fully recognize that the choice 
of the means by which the administration of the Kongo may be brought into 
line by the Berlin act rests exclusively with Belgium. Nevertheless, while 
disclaiming afl idea of interference. His Majesty's Government feel that in 
fairness they should leave the Belgian Government in no doubt that in their 
opinion the existing administration of the Kongo State has not fulfilled the 
objects for which the State was originally recognized, or the conditions of 
treaties, and that changes are therefore required, which should effect the fol- 
lowiQg objects : 

1. Eelief of the natives from excessive taxation. 

2. The grant to the natives of suiiicient land to insure their ability to obtain 
not only the food they require, but also sufficient produce of the soil to enable 
them to buy and sell as in other European colonies. 

3. The possibility for traders, whate\er their nationality may be, to acquire 
plots of land of reasonable dimensions in any part of the Kongo for the erec- 
tion of factories, so as to enable them to establish direct trade relations with 
the natives. 

The accompanying memorandum gives a resume on the subject of taxation. 
It takes for its basis the conclusions of the commission of inquiry, as set out 
in their report of the 30th October, 1905, dwells on the assurances given by the 
secretaries-general in their report to the King-Sovereign when submitting for 
His Majesty's approval the reform decrees of the 3d June, 1906, and finally 
compares those assurances with the actual operation of the new decrees, as 
reported by His INIajesty's consular officers. A perusal of that document can 
not fail to make it clear that, although cases of actual cruelty have largely 
ceased, the burden of taxation remains as oppressive as ever. It amounts, in 
fact, to a system of forced labor differing in name only fi-om slavery, and can 
not, in the opinion of His Majesty's Government, be reconciled with Article VI 
of the Berlin act. 

As regards the second point. His Majesty's Government have learned with 
some apprehension the intention of the Belgian Government, as it appears from 
the treaty of annexation, to respect in their entirety the rights of the conces- 
sionary companies. 

They assume that the entire " domaine privg " and the territory known as 
the " domaine de la couronne " will pass to the Belgian Government, and that 
the latter will be free in these territories to introduce whatever measures of 
reform they think necessary, not only for the protection of the natives, but for 
Insuring the freedom of trade — one of the objects for which the act of Berlin 
was framed. 

If the concessions are to be maintained, it will probably be found more 
difficult to introduce adequate changes into the system of administration, be- 
cause the reforms to be introduced must necessarily apply throughout the State, 
the whole territory being equally subject to the provisions of the Berlin act. 

The concessionary companies now cover, roughly speaking, three-fifths of the 
entire territory of the Kongo State. The object of their concessions is chiefly 
rubber, an article which represents on a yearly average 85 per cent of the total 
exports of the country, and so long as the concessions are worked upon the 
same conditions as at present it is difficult to see how the complete freedom 
of trade, which is guaranteed under Article I of the Berlin act, can possibly 
exist, for the condition of the native in those areas will be such as to pre- 
clude the possibility of his acquiring any material wealth beyond the min- 
imum necessary for the bare support of life, since he will continue to be de- 
barred from enjoyment of the fruits of the soil. Such conditions not only 
present an insuperable obstacle to any trade relations with the population of 
the larger portion of the Kongo, but they fail to meet the requirements of 
Article VI of the Berlin act, under which the signatory powers pledge them- 
selves to provide for the improvement of the natives' moral and material well- 

Moreover, the areas which were formerly comprised in the concessions of the 
A B I R 'and Anversoise companies must be treated as on the same footmg 
as the "areas in the concessions of the existing companies. Although those 



116 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

companies have ceased to exploit their concessions themselves according to the 
conventions between them and the State (Annexes 13 and 14 to the treaty of 
cession), the hitter bind themselves to hand over the produce in rubber to the 
former at Antwerp at a fixed rate. The produce of these areas may therefore 
be said to be alreadv disposed of in advance. His Majesty's Government under- 
stand that, according to the treaty of cession the Belgian Government bind 
themselves to respect this arrangement, and they must therefore conclude that 
the condition of affairs within these areas will be similar to that in the other 
concessions. 

With so large an area of the Kongo State subject to the concession system 
His Majesty's Government can not help feeling that no real improvement will 
be effected in the state of affairs unless there is a radical alteration of the eco- 
nomic system of the territory. 

His Majesty's Government can but repeat that they are well aware that it 
is outside their province to define the reforms that should be adopted in the 
Kongo, but as they have good reason to believe that both Governments are, on 
this question, animated by the same spirit they venture to suggest the follow- 
ing measures, as they believe that their adoption would effect a marked im- 
provement in the conditions prevailing in the Kongo. They trust that these 
suggestions will be welcomed by the Belgian Government in a friendly spirit 
and receive that measure of consideration which the gravity of the situation 
requires : 

Taking the three points enumerated above in order it appears to His Maj- 
esty's Government that — 

1. As regards the question of taxation in labor, the abuses to which the sys- 
tem has given rise have only been rendered possible by the absence of a proper 
standard of value. They believe, therefore, that the only sure and eflScacious 
means of precluding the existence of such abuses in the future is the introduc- 
tion of currency throughout the State at the earliest possible date. Both the 
reports of the commission of inquiry and the experience of His Majesty's con- 
sular officers agree in the conclusion that the native has learnt the use of 
money, and that currency would be welcomed by all classes, native and Euro- 
pean alike. 

2. The natives in the concessionary areas should not be compelled, by either 
direct or indirect means, to render their labor to the companies witliout re- 
muneration. The introduction of currency should contribute greatly to the pro- 
tection of the native against the illicit and excessive exactions on the part of 
private individuals. Such protection, however, can not be adequately secured 
unless the latter be compelled to pay the native in specie at a fair rate to be 
fixed by law. 

3. They would urge that a large increase should be made in the land allotted 
to the natives. 

In fixing the amount due regard should be had to the system of land tenure 
in vogue among them. From the reports which I have received from the 
British consular officers it would appear that individual property can scarcely 
be said to exist, while collective property would seem to be the rule. The 
natives of the Kongo are not precisely nomadic and seldom migrate outside 
what may be called their tribal areas, but as the rotation of crops and the use 
of manure are unknown the yield decreases after three or four years' cultiva- 
tion and the natives are obliged to shift the site of their villages and clear and 
plant new lands. 

If allowance is to be made for these practices the allotment of land to the 
natives should be made on a liberal scale, and the natives should be allowed to 
keep for themselves all the products of their land, whether they are the result 
of cultivation or not. In the opinion of His Majesty's Government the recom- 
menuations of the commission of inquiry on this point, to which practical effect 
is being given under the decree of the 3d June, 190S, entitled "Torres Indi- 
genes," are insuflSlcient for this purpose. 

The joint effect of these three reforms would go far to ameliorate the condi- 
tion of the natives in the Kongo, but no such improvement can be looked for 
unless the introduction of all three is obtained. Little benefit would result from 
any one of them standing alone. 

As already stated. His Majesty's Government merely submit these views for 
the friendly consideration of the Belgian Government, and if the latter have 
measures m view other than those above suggested His Majesty's Government 
would greatly appreciate any information which could be communicated to 
them on the subject. 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 117 

They would also be glad to receive an assurance from the Belgian Govern- 
ment that British missionaries, land settlers, and merchants will be able in the 
future to acquire plots of land in reasonable quantities in any part of the State 
so as to secure to them the advantages that were intended by article 2 of the 
Anglo-Kongolese agreement of the 16th Decpinber, 1884 

It had been the intention of His Majesty's GoVernment to claim, in accord- 
ance with the rights guaranteed to them under Article XII of the Berlin act 
that an arbitration should take place to determine whether the land and tr-ide 
systems now in force in the Kongo Free State are consistent with the first and 
fifth articles of that instrument, which enact that trade is to be free and mo- 
nopolies to be prohibited. As His Ma.iesty's Government have now every reason 
to hope that the State will be annexed in the near future by Belgium they 
prefer to postpone any question of arbitration, and to discuss the situation with 
the Belgian Government in a frank and friendly spirit. 

You should read this dispatch to M. Davignon, and leave a copy with his 
excellency if he desires it. 

I am, etc.. E. Geey. 

[Inclosure in No. 2.] 
Memorandum respecting taxation and currency in the Kongo Free State. 

General. 

The first and foremost subject of complaint under Article VI of the Berlin 
act are the abuses resulting from the system of taxation in labor. His Majesty's 
Government do not for a moment maintain that the treaty provisions of Article 
VI give them the right to demand the introduction of any particular system of 
taxation. They fully recognize that the Kongo government is at liberty to adopt 
any system which in their opinion the circumstances may demand. But His 
Majesty's Government must nevertheless contend that no system can be allowed 
to operate so as to interfere with treaty obligations to the prejudice of the moral 
and material well-being of the natives. 

It will be of interest to note briefly how the present system has sprung up. 
Like all the other questions affecting the Kongo, that of taxation is intimately 
connected with the existence of the rubber monopolies. In fact, the prosperity 
of the latter are largely, if not entirely, dependent on the maintenance of the 
present system. The native has been excluded from participating in any share 
in the benefits accruing from the systematic exploitation of the soil. It is, of 
course, obvious that that very exploitation over such vast areas as the " do- 
maine de la Couronne." the " domaine prive," and the concessionary companies 
can not possibly be effected without the assistance of native labor. No system 
of monopolies could possibly be effective without it. The manner in which 
this labor has been obtained evinces the same spirit which has characterized 
the commercial and financial policy of the State from 1891 onward. Having, 
by the partition of the soil and the general interdicts on trade of 1892, gradu- 
ally deprived the native of all means of acquiring material wealth, and re- 
stricted him to the smallest possible area with the barest necessities of life, the 
State succeeded in arriving at a state of affairs in which labor was the only 
possible form of raising the taxes. Taxes in kind became impossible, for the 
produce of the soil was the property of the State and the companies. Taxes in 
money became equally impossible, for, apart from the desire for obvious reasons 
not to introduce specie, the circulation of coin in the given circumstances would 
have been impossible, seeing that the natives had no exchangeable values to 
trade in. Reduced to this condition, it was easy for the State to exact the 
labor it required for the exploitation of the land in the shape of taxation. In 
principle, of course, there is nothing wrong in taxation in labor any more than 
in any other particular form of taxation. It is of the abuses to which a tax in 
labor is liable to give rise, and which have actually arisen in the case of the 
Kongo, that His Majesty's Government complain. Taxation in labor is an 
expedient to which His Majesty's Government, as well as other powers possess- 
ing colonies in Africa, have on occasions resorted when no other form of taxa- 
tion was possible. There is, however, this difference in the application of the 
principle : That in the case of the British colonies taxation in labor has never 
been regarded as more than a provisional and temporary expedient, to last 



118 AFFAIRS IN" THE KONGO. 

ouly until such time as it miglit be possible to introduce a more satisfactory' 
system. 

Now. in tbe case of tbe Kongo tlie converse is the case. For over twenty 
years lias the Kongo State been in existence, and no attempt has been made to 
"introduce specie except on the lower Kongo, where there is no danger of inter- 
ference with the great riibber monopoly. On the other hand, there is abundant 
proof to show that no efforts have been spared to render the only system of 
taxation possible, that of labor, and to perpetuate that system as long as 
possible. 

Currency is so indissolubly connected with taxation that, before proceeding 
to deal with the effects of the labor tax in force in the Kongo, it will be of 
great service to examine carefully the attitude of the Kongo government in 
regard to the introduction of currency. The question of currency lies so much 
at the root of all the evils arising from the tax in labor that a clear under- 
standing of this point will assist very materially in rebutting the Kongo gov- 
ernment's specious arguments on the subject of taxation. 

CURRENCY. 

It is impossible to lay too much stress on the importance of the introduction 
of currency. There is probably no more potent means of putting a stop to the 
abuses in the Kongo than the existence of a circulating medium in sutficient 
amount. It would, on the one hand, shield the native from the exorbitant 
exactions of the State, which the latter is only enabled to enforce in virtue of 
a system of taxation in labor ; while, on the other hand, it would, if not entirely 
destroy, at any rate seriously diminish, the enormous profits of the trading 
companies and of the State in its capacity of a trader. 

The commission of inquiry, in their report (p. 156), said: 

" Le commerce serait considerablement facilite par I'introduction, dans tout 
TEtat, de la monnaie qui, actuellement, n'est reellement utilisee que dans le 
Bas-Kongo. Cette mesure est reclamee par les Agents de I'Etat, les factoriens, 
les missionnaires, et meme par les noirs qui out appris S, connaitre I'argent." 

The secretaries-general, in reporting to the King Sovereign on the recom- 
mendation of the commission of inquiry, said that since the foundation of the 
State the Government had spared no efforts to set currency in circulation in the 
Kongo. Money had passed rapidly into circulation among the population 
round the principal centers of the lower Kongo. 

In the upper Kongo, where the natives came less in direct contact with the 
white man, the State had experienced greater difficulties in effecting payments 
m currency, and in certain centers such attempts had proved complete fail- 
ures. For some time past these efforts had been renewed, and the government, 
where possible, would continue to effect payment in specie, the only means by 
which the commission of inquiry held that currency could pass into circula- 
tion. The statements of the secretaries-general are hardly borne out by the 
experience of Vice-Consul ■ Michel! when visiting the territory of the Lomami 
Company (proprietary), on the upper Kongo, in February, 1907. He reports 
in his dispatch of the 1st of March, lyOT, as follows : 

" The territory exploited by the Lomami Company— a subsidiary undertaking 
of the ' Comite Special du Katanga,' and one of a group of companies, includ- 
ing, I understand, the Kasai trust and the ' Societe Anonyme Beige.' financed bv 
a syndicate of Belgian banks— differs from the concessions granted to other 
societies in being a freehold property. The comapny holds, therefore, a unique 
position in the Kongo State, being free to deal with its products as it thinks fit. 
As the State claims all the ivory, rubber, minerals, and other riches as products 
of the soil, so the company claims the same in its territory. The State, there- 
fore, can not demand the ivory and rubber of the Lomami "in payment of taxes, 
but exacts the labor of the natives. Up to the end of the year 1905 the com- 
pany was authorized by the State to collect this tribute, with the result that 
the same abuses were liable to occur as in the A. B. I. R. and other concessions, 
especially with the turbulent Lokele. After the affair at Yabohila the com- 
pany renounced the right to impose taxation. It has taken some time to reform 
the system to which the agents had become accustomed, and more than one 
agent has been expelled for not obeying the new order. But it is now the 
strict rule throughout the territory that nothing can be demanded from the 
natives without their consent and without such payment as thev agree to take. 
Doubtless the impression of the old rggime still remains on the minds of the 



AFPAIES IN THE KONGO. HQ 




of absolutely free trade, and initiated a basis of currency. Preparatory to the 
use of silver he has cut down the usual brass rods to lengths, representiu"- 10 
centimes and 5 centimes. Every service rendered, and all rubber, ivory fresh 
food, and other things bought from the natives is paid for on the spot in these 
brass rods. In each factory there is a shop where European goods are set out 
on a counter with the number of rods laid against them which represent their 
price. These counters are open day and night. It is absolutely forbidden to 
pay the people in goods. They must receive cash, and they are then free to buy 
the goods they desire, or to take their money away with them. The barter 
goods are sold at cost price, with nothing but transport, customs, etc., added 
The natives have already a shrewd grasp of the cash system, and silver is to 
be introduced immediately. 

" Since July also the price of rubber has been raised, so that now 1 franc 
per kilogram is being paid to the producers, and 20 centimes per kilogram in 
addition is paid to the chief. M. le Mariuel is contemplating raising it shortly 
to 1 franc 50 centimes per kilogram. At present the State is not levying taxa- 
tion on the natives of the Lomami district, with the exception of the immediate 
neighborhood of the police post of Opala and the two or three small posts in 
the interior. The State pays about 55 centimes per kilogram for rubber, of 
which about 25 centimes goes to the actual maker. The Lomami tribes now 
understand that if they make rubber for the company they can easily earn 
very much more than the 2 francs per month that the State may ask of them ; 
whereas if they refuse to work freely for the company they are liable to be 
compelled by the State to make rubber at 25 centimes per kilogram, with the 
alternative of the chain gang. 

" This experiment is the more interesting as it is the only example of genuine 
free trade in this country. Many say it will fail as the novelty wears off and 
as the natives' simple wants and fancies for European goods become satisfied. 
It remains to be seen whether the company can keep up their interest and 
stimulate new wants. At present they present themselves readily for porterage 
and other work in any number asked for. 

" The production of rubber is also increasing rapidly. One post has risen to 
2 tons (metric) during the month of February, and expects to make more this 
month. Most of the factories are sending down urgent requests for more goods 
on account of the increase of business. 

" I regard the success of this new experiment as of the utmost importance to 
the Kongo, both as demonstrating the possibility and the advantages of free 
trade and as showing the falseness of the arguments hitherto urged by the 
State in favor of forced labor." 

The difficulty of introducing currency in the upper Kongo, upon which the 
secretaries-general laid so much stress, no doubt exists, but the reason of its 
existence is that the native, being deprived of all exchangeable values owing 
to the monopolization of the land, money can not pass into circulation, and 
in such circumstances the native is, in fact, better off: with a commodity, how- 
ever small in value, that will satisfy a human want than if he were in posses- 
sion of coin. 

The secretaries-general in their report briefly dismiss this all-important sub- 
ject with these words : 

" II n'est evidemment pas au pouvoir du Gouvernement d'imposer aux par- 
ticuliers ou aux Societes I'emploi de I'argent dans leurs relations commerciales 
avec les indigenes; mais il importerait qu'elles secondassent a cet egard les 
efforts de I'Etat." 

The force of this argument is far from clear. 

The secretaries-general, nevertheless, recommended that 1,000,000 francs 
should be struck and sent out to the Kongo. The decree, entitled " Frappe et 
Monnaie," providing for this measure received the royal sanction on the 3d 
June, 1906. 

It should be sufficient evidence of the reluctance of the Government to mtro- 
duce currency to mention the fact that up to the present time (January, 1908) 
only 35 000 francs have been struck, which it is proposed to set in circulation 
in the Katanga, that is to say, in that portion of the State where currency is 
the least likely to interfere with the profits on the rubber monopolies. This 
remark applies equally to the lower Kongo. 



l^Q AFFAIES IK THE KONGO. 

Of all the reform decrees the decree " Frappe et Monnaie " was the one 
which could have been carried into effect with least difficulty and least delay 
Surely if the Kongo government had been in real earnest, they would have 
taken some steps to coin the money and send it out Nearly two years have 
now elapsed since the publication of the decree, and practically nothmg has 

^^U iTmstructive to observe the spirit in which this decree has been inter- 
preted by Vice-Governor Lantonnois in his general instructions of the 8th feep- 

^^^cl^'cerait" d'ailleurs,' anticiper sur les evenements que de dgcreter d'autoritg 
I'emploi de la monnaie dans tout I'fitat. Le Gouvernement ne veut gtablir ce 
regime que par etapes prudentes et seulement chez les populations oil il pourra 
repondre a un besoin ou a uue utilite." .^ ^ ^ -, ^. 

As re<^ards the sufficiency of the 1,000,000 francs provided for under the new 
decree and the manner in which the promises of the secretaries-general are 
being carried out, the following extract from a dispatch from Consul Thesiger 
furnishes some instructive reading : . , . ^ 

" In the ' Mouvement Geographique ' of the 22d ultimo I noticed an unsigned 
letter bearing on the question of the introduction of money and the general 
payment of the natives in coin, in which the writer expresses surprise that the 
missions who are the most earnest advocates for the introduction of this system 
as a step toward reform, have not adopted it in all stations where they are in 
contact with the natives. .,.,,, 

"As a good deal of stress appears to be laid on this point both here and m 
Belgium, I have the honor to point out various reasons why this course is im- 
possible 'for the missions before further action is taken by the State in the 
same direction. 

" In the first place the administration, which refuses to accept any coinage 
but that of the State, has hitherto neglected to furnish an adequate supply of 
this coinage. So much so is this the case that, even in the towns of the lower 
Kongo, business houses have great difficulty in always obtaining sufficient 
specie for their needs, and in Matadi at this moment there is a serious money 
crisis arising out of this shortage, and the State has been obliged to authorize 
their officials and the railway company to accept 50 per cent of all payments 
In French coinage, of which there is a plentiful supply in the neighborhood of 
the pool; but, even so, traders and others find a difficulty in obtaining the 
remaining portion in the Kongo currency. Under these conditions, it is ob- 
viously impossible for the missions to introduce the payment of the natives in 
coin into the districts of the upper Kongo. 

" On Stanley Pool the missions have for years paid their work people and 
paid for produce in cash, whereas the State, which has so often expressed its 
anxiety to see the native educated up to the point of understanding the use of 
money, and has for years asked the missions to do all they could to introduce 
it into the country, has only lately followed suit, and now pays some of their 
workmen half in cash and half in cloth, but still refrains from paying for 
produce in money. 

" Furthermore, in most of the upper districts, money, under the present 
regime, is useless to the native. Although the State is anxious to obtain the 
personal tax in money from such natives as are employed by the missions, and 
so can not supply a tax in labor or in kind, it is in no way desirous of intro- 
ducing the payment of this tax in coin, as a general rule. The present system 
is too profitable from the labor point of view and too economical when the tax 
is paid in foodstuffs at a fraction of their real value. I know on good authority 
of two cases where the native actually brought the money and offered it as pay- 
ment of his tax, and it was refused by the State, who insisted on his supplying 
the so-called ' equivalent ' in produce. Thus, as regards his indebtedness to the 
State, money to any but the mission-employed native is useless. From the 
personal point of view it would in too many cases be likewise worthless, as 
there are no magazines or stores where he could purchase cloth or goods. 

"The power to introduce money and cash payments into the upper Kongo 
lies in the hands of the State alone, and it is only when they have done their 
share of the work that the missions can carry it on. 

" Before any improvement can be effected the State must issue at least twice 
or three times the amount of the currency at present in circulation, and give 
the native the possibility of purchasing what and where he will. As matters 
now stand, even at Leopoldville, the small trader can not compete with the 
State, owing to the heavy freights and the excessive taxation to which he is 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 121 

exposed, and farther up country it would be absurd even to think of opening a 
store in districts where the native can not pay in money and may not pay in 
produce, since the only articles which could profitably be accepted by a trader 
in exchange for goods of any kind are the private property of the State or of a 
concessionary company. 

" The money question has a very important bearing on the condition of the 
native population and their relation to the administration, and the State, while 
outwardly professing their anxiety to spread the use of coined money over the 
whole Kongo, have neglected all steps which would render such a thing pos- 
sible." 

Vice-Consul Michell says in his report on the trade in Stanley Falls district 
during 1906 : 

" Until the State introduces the use of money no amelioration can be ex- 
pected. This it is not likely to do, as it makes an enormous profit on taxation 
in kind." 

Mr. Vice-Consul Beak says in his report on his tour of the Katanga district, 
6th September, 1907: 

"A money currency has not yet been mtroduced, although I can not but 
emphasize in this particular the report of the Commission d'Enquete that ' cette 
mesure est reclamee par les Agents de I'Etat, les factoriens, les missionnaires, 
et meme par les noirs qui out appris a connaltre I'argent.' Owing to the 
absence of money and the absence of factories, the native does not really get 
what he is alleged to receive." 

Vice-Consul Armstrong says in his dispatch of the 2d August, 1907 : 

" The fact that the new law provides for a system of taxation upon a 
monetary basis is of no value until a fair prfce is placed upon the rubber. 
T! ""re is no money in the Kongo rubber-bearing districts." 

Mr. Armstrong says in his dispatch of the 18th December, 1907 : 

" The natives of the Stanley Pool district inhabiting the banks of the Kongo 
River above Leopoldville and Klnchasa, extending over a distance of some 150 
miles, have been refused the alternative of paying their tax in money. Similar 
conditions prevail in other parts of this district below Leopoldville. The pay- 
ment of the tax in money is the only means the native has of purchasing his 
freedom and procuring for himself the value of the produce which he now gives 
to the State." 

TAXATION. 

After examining the attitude of the Kongo government on the subject of 
currency one can not fail to be impressed with one salient fact, namely, a fixed 
determination to dispense with a proper standard of value, which alone can 
insure the perpetuation of the system of forced labor with all its profits to the 
State or the companies. 

Bearing in mind one dominant fact, we can now proceed with the inquiry 
into the question of taxation. 

The commission of inquiry in their report began by saying that the greater 
part of the criticisms leveled against the State more or less touchel upon the 
question of taxation, more especially taxation in labor, the only tax which 
burdened the native. 

This question was without doubt the most important and the most complex, 
and, in their opinion, on the solution of this problem depended the solution of 
almost all the rest. 

They then proceeded to examine, first, the principle of taxation m labor, 
and, secondly, its effects when put into practice. 

As regards the principle, they felt justified in defending the system of tax- 
ation in labor on the following grounds : They held that as the development of 
the country could only be effected with the assistance of native labor, and the 
wants of the native being easily satisfied he would, if he could, pass his ex- 
istence in absolute leisure. As there were practically no inducements for the 
native to work, there was not only ample justification for the state policy, 
but in their opinion, the State had acted wisely in making use of the only 
legal means of making work obligatory on the native population, viz., the levy 
of taxes in labor : ^ .^, ,, . ,,-^.. ,„ 

"C'est precisement en consideration de la necessite d assurer a 1 Etat le 
concours indispensable de la main-d'ceuvre indigene qu'un impot en travnil est 
iustifie an Kongo. Cet impot, en outre, remplace, vis-a-vis de ces populations, 
la contrainte qui, dans les pays civilises, est exercee par les necessites memes 
de la vie." 



122 APFAmS IN THE KONGO. 

ASTRlTl * 

" L'iinpot en travail est d'ailleurs rnnique imp5t possible actnellement au 
Kongo, car I'indigene, en regie generale, ne possede rien au dela de sa hntte, 
de ses amies, et de quelqnes plantations strictement necessaires a sa subsistance. 
UnVmpot ayant pour base la richesse n'y serait pas possible. Si done on recon- 
nait a I'Etat du Kongo comme a, tout autre Etat le droit de demander a ses 
populations les ressources necessaires a son existence et a son developpement, 
il faut e\'idemruent lui reconnaitre le droit de lenr reclamer la seule chose que 
ces populations puissent donner, c'est-a-dire, une certahie somme de travail." 

His '^Majesty's Government will not attempt to deny that the resources of the 
Kongo can not be developed without native labor, but they do assert that this 
labor need not necessarily be exacted by the State in the shape of taxation. 
Assuming that specie can be put into circulation, if the tax is assessed and 
payable in specie, does it not follow, especially in the circumstances described 
by the commission, that the natives would have to work to get the money to 
pay the taxes? 

Unless the expression " certaine somme de travail " used by the commissioners 
is to be taken to mean that because the native is reluctant to work of his own 
free will the State is justified in exacting from him in the shape of taxation in 
labor a sacrifice out of all proportion to what would be justifiable if they were 
assessed in specie. His Majesty's Government fail to see the force of the com- 
missioners' argument, for, as already stated, the native would still have to 
render the " certaine somme de travail " in order to get the money to pay 
the tax. 

That such an arbitrary power of exacting labor from the natives should be 
vested in the State was clearly not what the commissioners contemplated, for 
they go on to say: 

" Certes Timpot en travail, comme tout impot, ne doit absorber qu'une faible 
partie de I'activite individuelle ; il doit servir uniquement aux besoins du 
gouveruement, etre en rapports avec les bienfaits que les contribuables memes en 
retirent; il doit enfin pouvoir se concilier, autant que possible, ainsi que nous 
le proposerons, avec le principe de la liberte individuelle, mais dans ces limites 
nous ne croyons pas qu'il puisse etre critique. 

" D'autre part, Pobligation du travail, si elle n'est pas excessive et si elle est 
appliquee d'une maniere equitable et paternelle, en evitant autant que possible, 
ainsi que nous exposerons ci-apres, I'emploi des moyens violents, aura le grand 
avantage d'etre un des agents les plus efficaces de civilisation et de transforma- 
tion de la population indigene." 

The words of the commissioners must therefore be taken to be a justification 
of the principle of taxation in labor when exercised within certain limits and 
no more. His Majesty's Government have no objections to urge against the 
views of the commissioners as thus understood. They will go as far as to 
maintain that if the principle of taxation in labor is applied with moderation, 
and every precaution taken against the abuses to' which such a system is liable, 
its application is as unexceptionable as any other form of taxation ; indeed, in 
certain circumstances, it may be resorted to with mutual advantage to the 
State and the taxpayer. 

But it is precisely these limits which constitute the crux of the matter. 
We shall presently See how far the taxation in labor in force in the Kongo 
State has been, and is, kept within the limits in which alone the commission 
of inquiry hold such a system to be justified. 

It will at first, however, be necessary to take some account of the legislation 
on the subject of taxation. 

In the first year of the State's existence the government agents often sta- 
tioned in unexplored and isolated parts of the country were allowed to requisi- 
tion from the natives the necessary means of subsistence. The decree of the 
6th October provided for the contribution by the chief recognized by the State. 
A decree of the 2Sth November, 1893, empowered the commander in chief of 
the state forces in the Manyema to raise some of the means necessary to cover 
the extraordinary expenses occasioned by the suppression of the Arab revolt, 
and determines the nature and the amount of the contributions to be furnished 
by each locality or native chief. Article 7 of the decree of the 30th October, 
1892, imposes on the natives gathering rubber in the territories above Stanley 
Pool open to trade a tax in kind, the amount of which was to be determined by 
the governor-general, but in no case exceeding one-fifth of the amount gathered. 
A further decree of the 5th December, which was not published in the " Bulle- 
tm Officiel," empowered the secretary of state " de prendre toutes les mesures 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 123 

qn'il .Ingera utiles ou ngcessairos pour assurer la mise en exploitation des biens 
du domaine prive." 

For a long time these enactments were considered sufficient to enable the 
administration to exact from the natives contributions in labor, and to delegate 
that right to the companies, without, however, ever determining the nature and 
the amount of such contributions, nor in anyway limiting the amount of force 
to be employed in compelling the natives to pay the tax. When, however, in 
the cases of the Kongo Government v. Kasfessa, the 29th August, 1899, and 
Kongo Government v. Noketo and Olembo, the court of appeal at Boma gave 
judgment to the effect that. In the existing state of the law. no one had the 
right to compel the natives to work, the State saw the need of regularizing 
the position. The decree of the 18th November, 1903. was issued, and this is 
the law which has remained in force until the reform decree of 1906 amended 
and amplified it. 

Until latterly the levy of the taxes was more or less left to the discretion of 
the state or company agents. 

Each " chef de poste " or " de factorerie " demanded of the native, without 
inquiring too closely upon what authority, the most varied contributions in labor 
and in kind to meet the requirements of his particular case. 

In later years the amount of contrib-utions was fixed by the " commissaire de 
district," to whom great latitude was given, with the result that the assessments 
varied greatly according to local circumstances. Thus the amount of rubber 
demanded in the Mongala district was 9 kilograms in the A. B. I. R. 6, in the 
eastern provinces from 2-4, while in Lower Kongo no taxes at all were levied. 

As the fi gents thus enjoyed complete discretionary power, the natives were in 
some cases treated with leniency, whilst in others the demands made upon them 
were altogether excessive. In the "domaine prive" this abuse was greatly 
stimulated by the fact that the government agents had a direct interest in the 
yield, for they received bonuses in proportion to the amount of rubber collected. 
These bonuses were abolished some fourteen years ago. 

The decree of the 18th November, 1902, equalized (on paper) the taxes to be 
paid throughout the country. 

Every adult and able-bodied native was to render a certain amount of labor to 
the State in the shape of taxation. The labor was to be remunerated, and was 
not to exceed forty hours a month. Nothing could be more equitable than the 
provisions of this decree as they read on paper, and no possible exception could 
be taken to the principle on which they are founded. But, and here is the gist 
of the whole matter, the " commissaires de district " were empowered under the 
decree to draw up so-called " lists of equivalents," showing the amount of 
produce which, in their discretion, was the equivalent of forty hours' labor. It 
is true that in assessing the amount the "commissaires" were enjoined to have 
due regard to local circumstances, such as the richness of the forest, the dis- 
tance to be traversed, the nature of the products, etc. They were empowered by 
article 31 to insist on payment in kind instead of in labor to the amount fixed 
on the list. Article 54 empowers the authorities, in cases of refusal on the part 
of the natives to pay the taxes, and, in default of property which can be con- 
fiscated, to resort to forced labor. 

As regards the actual operation of the law, it will be well to quote the words 
of the commission of inquiry: 

" Lors de I'inspection de la commission, la loi n'etait appliquge que dans 
quelques districts. 

" Le Decret fixe a quarante heures par mois le travail que chaque Indigene 
doit k riiltat. Ce temps, considere comme maximum, n'est certes pas exagere, 
surtout si Ton tient compte du fait que le travail doit etre remunere; mais 
comme dans I'immense majorite des cas, par application des articles 31 et 84, 
ce n'est pas prgcisement le travail qui est reclame a I'indigene, mais bien une 
quantite de produits eqiiivalente a quarante heures de travail, le criterium du 
temps disparait en r^alite et est remplace par une Equation gtablie par les com- 
missaires de district d'apres des methodes diverses. Tantot, on a tente de 
calculer le temps moyen necessaire pour obtenir certain produit, par exemple, 
le kilo<^ramme de caoutchouc ou de chlkwangue ; tantot, on s'est born§ k fixer 
la valeur de I'heure de travail en prenant pour base le taux des salaires locaux; 
on a multiplie ce chififre par quarante et Ton a exige des indigenes la fourniture 
d'un produit d'une valeur equivalente a la somme ainsi obtenue. 

" Le premier de ces calculs repose sur des appreciations arbitraires ; le second 
donne des resultats qui petivent varier a I'lnfini, selon revaluation du produit 
ou de la main-d'oeuvre." 



124 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

\. circular of the 2911i February, 1904, addressed to the " commissaires de 
district," ordered tbem to see that the results of the previous years' taxation 
should not only be maintained, but progressively improved upon. 

The secretaries-general, in their report to the King-Sovereign, agreed with 
the commission of Inquiry that the question of taxation was without doubt the 
most important, and tbat on the solution of this problem depended the solution 

of nearly all the rest. r.- ^ -, ^v. 

The decree of the 18th November, 1903, they said, subjected the natives to 
compulsory labor, and this tax was justified by the report of the commission of 
inquiry. ,. . . ^ ^, 

There were other legislatures who taxed the natives in specie, and theo- 
retically there could be" no difference of opinion as to the advantages of such 
a form'of taxation. But in practice, and in the actual state of affairs in the 
Kongo, where nearly the entire native population possessed no specie, to sub- 
stitute a tax in money for a tax in labor had only the appearance of a modifica- 
tion in the law. If the law were to take as a basis of taxation a sum of money, 
it must, since it is demanding of the native what he does not possess, leave the 
latter the alternative of paying the tax in kind or in labor. This alternative 
was in the actual circumstances not an alternative at all, inasmuch as the 
native not possessing specie must of necessity avail himself of the right to pay 
the tax in kind or labor. 

The system of taxation in specie and the system enforced under the decree 
of 1903 must both ultimately result in the present and general system— that is, 
to exact from the native labor of some kind. The possibility, however, that 
certain classes of taxpayers would be able to acquit themselves of the tax 
in money had been sufficiently established to justify the law in sanctioning 
the principle. 

This argument is of course extremely plausible. His Majesty's Govern- 
ment can have no objections to urge against the views thus expressed by the 
secretaries-general, which must of necessity apply to every country in the 
earlier stages of its development. As already stated, taxation in labor and in 
kind has been resorted to by probably every European power possessing 
colonies in Africa. But such a form of taxation is only justifiable as a tem- 
porary or provisional measure until such time as the introduction of currency 
has become possible. The secretaries-general said the native in the Kongo 
had no specie. True, but why has he no specie? Because, as already ex- 
plained, during the twenty-three years that the Kongo State has been in 
existence no serious attempt, in spite of all assertions to the contrary, has 
ever been made by the State to introduce currency on a sufliciently large 
scale. In every other European colony in Africa has the native come to learn 
the practical value of a medium of exchange. What are the reasons that the 
Kongo State should stand in an exceptional position in this respect? They 
are unfortunately obvious enough. The truth is that it is precisely owing 
to the absence of a proper standard of value that the Kongo government and 
the concessionary companies have been able to abuse the system of taxation 
in labor and realize enormous profits out of the incessant labor wrung from 
the population in the guise of taxation. 

In the new decree which the secretaries-general were submitting for His 
Majesty's approval certain modifications of the decree of the 18th November, 
1903, liad been effected in accordance with the recommendations of the com- 
mission of inquiry, dealing more especially with — 

1. The amount of the tax. 

2. Its assessment ("fixite"). 

In deference to the wishes of the commission of inquiry, " de regler le taux 
de I'impot d'apres les conditions des differentes peuplades indigenes entenant 
compte de leurs aptitudes au travail," the decree did not make uniform the 
amount of the tax for all the territories of the State. Article 2, section 2, 
provided that the governor-general should fix the amount of the tax pro- 
portionately to the resources of the various regions and populations and accord- 
ing to the degree of the development of the natives. The decree laid down 
that the amount of the tax could not be less than 6 francs nor more than 
24 francs. 

The secretaries-general then significantly observed that the payment of the 
taxes in money would for a long time remain the exception, because the native, 
as a rule, possessed nothing beyond his hut, his arms, and a few plantations. 
Precisely so. The native has been systematically deprived of his interests in 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 125 

tbe soil, and thereby of his power to acquire wealth. He has, therefore no 
exchauf^eable values to barter against money 

There is however another reason, to which the secretaries-general, of course, 
do not allude which will compel the native to pay the tax in labor and not in 
money, and that is, as we have aire; dy seen, the determination of the Govern- 
ment to postpone as long as possible the introduction of currency In such 
circumstances the secretaries-general may justly observe: 

" En pratique, par la force meme des choses, I'impOt sera gengralement navA 
en produits ou en travail." '' 

" La force m§nie des choses " being, in fact, the indirect compulsion exercised 
by the State. Therefore article 2 bis provides : 

"Les indigenes peuvent s'acquitter de I'impot soit en produits soit en 
travail." 

The law, they said, could not itself lay down the equivalents of either kind 
of labor in terms of money; that must necessarily vary according to the dif- 
ferent regions. Foreign legislative enactments which had been consulted 
equally did not fix the equivalents. Following those examples, the decree left 
that duty to the higher local administrative authorities — to the " commissaires 
de district." Then they went on to remark that it was absolutely essential that 
the valuation should be so fixed (as recommended by the commission of in- 
quiry) as to preclude all arbitrariness, and to fix in a definite manner the 
amount payable by each taxpayer. Directions would be given to the governor- 
general that, while acting under the powers conferred upon him, he should 
take every precaution to attain that end. The latest reports from the Kongo 
showed that steps had been taken to fix the equivalent on a just and equitable 
basis. 

The tax payable being thus definitely fixed, it would become impossible to 
impose excessive taxation on the natives. For this to happen it would be nec- 
essary to register the native on the lists for a sum in money or its equivalent 
in excess of the sum legally due from him. Such an hypothesis was incon- 
ceivable, since the lists, being submitted to the governor-general, would not 
receive his sanction unless they were strictly in accordance with legality. If 
any agent charged with the collection of the tax were to exact from the native 
more than the amount fixed on the rolls, he would be punishable under article 
63 of the decree for such an abuse of power. 

It is scarcely necessary to observe that these tables of equivalents, unless 
drawn up in accordance with some proper standard of value, afford no guar- 
anty whatsoever against excessive demands on the part of the State. If the 
value assigned to any particular product has been fixed without reference to 
the time, labor, skill, sacrifice, and the other numerous constituents, which in a 
country where the laws of supply and demand are allowed free play, go to make 
up values, then such a system must always be liable to abuse at the hands of 
those empowered to fix the valuation. 

It is instructive to note the interpretation which Vice-Governor Lantonnois 
has placed on the secretaries-general's reassuring utterances in his instructions 
to the local aiithorities of the _8th September, 1906. He says : 

" L'indigene qui remet a I'Etat des produits domaniaux ne fournit, en effet, 
ii celui-ci que la valeur de sa main-d'oeuvre puisque le produit appartient a 
I'Etat. Vous devrez done evaluer d'abord le nombre d'heures de travail neces- 
saires pour recolter une certaine quantite de produits, un kilogramme, par exem- 
ple, puis la remuneration due pour ce travail d'apres les salaires locaux, 
Cette remuneration se calculera de la meme maniere que sous le regime 
anterieur et en tenant compte du meme taux de salaires, mois elle devra de- 
sormais gtre exprimee en numeraire sur ces tableaux d'equivalences." 

Before proceeding to examine any particular form of taxation in labor, and 
the manner in which the Kongo government have succeeded in continuing the 
former abuses in spite of the assurances of the secretaries-general, some ex- 
planation seems required of the system under which the native receives 
remuneration for the taxes paid by him. 

REMUNERATION TO NATIVES FOE TAXES LEVIED. 

The system of remuneration for taxes levied appears to be peculiar to the 
Kongo State. 

The first signs of the introduction of this system is to be found in the govern- 
ment instructions which appeared in the "Bulletin Officiel " in 1896. These 



126 AFFAIES IN" THE KONGO. 

instructions laid down that remuneration (a notion not readily reconcilable 
with the idea of a tax) was to be given to the natives for their labor, which 
should be not less in value than the labor rendered. A tariff was to be drawn 
up by the " commissaires de district," and approved by the " gouverneur- 
general." The only tariffs approved by the governor-general, said the commis- 
sion of inquiry, fixed the maximum which the " commissaires de district " were 
authorized to pay, but did not state the minimum. Hence it came that the 
iiati\es were often gi^en insufficient remuneration, and sometimes they were 
paid goods of no value at all. 

In their report to the Kiug-Sovereign the secretaries-general said that the 
remuneration granted by the State for taxes levied in kind was an act of pure 
condescension. It was ito be maintained with that character. The commission 
of inquiry had justly observed that the remuneration served as an effective 
encouragement to labor. The amount of this remuneration was not left to the 
discretion of the tax gatherer; it was fixed by higher authority, and the amount 
inscribed on the rolls for each taxpayer. Besides, the necessary steps were 
being taken to multiply the state stores, where the native would be at liberty to 
choose the articles he requiies up to the amount due to him as remuneration. 

It must be observed that since there is no currency in circulation over the 
greater part of the Kongo, the remuneration of the natives, though fixed on a 
monetary basis, is paid in cloth or salt. In reporting on the tax in chickwangue 
around Leopoldville, Mr. Thesiger describes the result of this system as follows : 

" Were this 6 centimes paid in coin the injustice would still be evident, but it 
is paid for in trade cloth, of which the State has in Leopoldville a practical mo- 
nopoly, at a value of 10 francs a piece of 7 meters, or in other trade goods a 
similar valuation. These figures speak for themselves. It may be further 
noted that the natives, having no use for all the cloth so earned, are glad to sell 
it again at 8 francs a piece, thus incurring a diminution of their wage. This 
is so generally the case that a regular trade is carried on in the cloth so 
retailed." 

Whatever advantages may be claimed for such a system as an incentive to 
work when carried out with a genuine desire to benefit the native, His Majesty's 
Government contend that it must necessarily wholly fail in its object when the 
so-called remuneration is merely of nominal value. That this is the case the 
evidence which His Majesty's Government will adduce further on will leave 
but little doubt. As it is at present, such a system can not fail to introduce con- 
fusion into the minds of the natives as to where taxation ends and remunera- 
tion begins. Indeed, it makes it extremely difficult to know where to draw the 
line between the taxpayer and the hired laborer. Both are compelled to render 
labor to the State, both receive a nominal remuneration in kind, so that in prac- 
tice, if not in theory, both are the slaves of the State. 

As regards the establishment of state stores alluded to by the secretaries- 
general, one of the reform decrees provided that a supplementary credit of 
800,000 francs should be opened for the establishment of state stores stocked 
with objects responding to the taste of the natives, in order that they should 
obtain the articles they want either as remuneration for the tax levied or as 
payment for labor. 

Mr. Thesiger, as we have already seen, in speaking of currency, says : 

" From the personal point of view it would in too many cases be likewise 
worthless, as there are no magazines or stores where the native could purchase 
cloth or goods." 

Mr. Vice-consul Beak, in his report of 6th September, 1907, says: 
_ " I did not in the whole course of my journey come across one of the ' Maga- 
sins d'Etat approvisionnes d'objets repondant aux goflts et aux besoins des in- 
digenes' contemplated in one of the June decrees." 

Further on occurs this passage: 

"The Tanganyika Concessions (Limited) has established numerous stores at 
Kambove, Ruwe, and elsewhere, which offer a pleasant contrast to the ' Maga- 
sins d'Etat ' and at which the native is afforded a large variety of choice and a 
real chance of meeting his requirements. The stock held by the Kambov^ store, 
for instance, was far superior both in quality and variety to anything I had seen 
in the course of my journey since leaving Sierra Leone." 

VARIOUS FORMS OF TAXATION. 

It will now be necessary to examine carefully the effects of the different forms 
of taxation under the decree of 18th November, 1903, as found to be in existence 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 127 

by the commission of inquiry. We will then deal with the remedies suggested 
by the commission and nominally adopted by the Kongo Government in the 
decree entitled " Impositions directes et personnelles " of the 3d June, 1906, 
and finally the manner in which that decree has been put into operation accord- 
ing to the information which His Majesty's Government have received from 
their consular officers in the Kongo State. 

It will suffice, in order to show that no real reforms have so far been intro- 
duced, to take only the two principal forms of taxation in labor, viz, chick- 
wangue and rubber. 

CHICKWANGUE. 

Chickwangue (kwanga) is bread made of manioc, and constitutes the staple 
food of the natives over the greater part of the Kongo State. The preparation 
of this article necessitates many kinds of work, the clearing of the forest, 
planting of the manioc, extraction of the root to make the chickwangue, clean- 
ing, boiling, and packing, etc. Each of the processes, with the exception of the 
clearing, is the work of women. These chickwangues when prepared are taken 
by the natives to the nearest government posts for the consumption of soldiers, 
workers, and government officials. 

The tax in chickwangue is, according to the statement of the commission of 
inquiry, paid with great facility. It is a work to which the native is accus- 
tomed. When the number of consumers at the government stations are not 
too numerous, and the tax is equitably distributed among a sufficiently dense 
population, the tax need not give rise to any complaint. 

But the matter is very different in the vicinity of the more important stations 
where the native population have to provide for a great number of laborers and 
soldiers. In the country immediately round the chief center of administration 
and the military camps the supply of chickwangue becomes a tax involving con- 
siderable hardship. As the villages in the immediate neighborhood are in- 
sufficient for the supply, the tax becomes more burdensome owing to the 
necessity of transport. 

As an illustration, the commission of inquiry instanced the case of Leopold- 
ville. This station, which is growing in importance from day to day, numbered 
in 1905 about 3,000 laborers and soldiers. The district on which the burden of 
supplying the station with provisions is far from thickly populated. The vil- 
lages are few and far between, and the population is on the decline. 

The necessity thus arose of having to enlarge to an abnormal extent the field 
of taxation from which the supply of chickwangues was to be drawn. A village 
79 kilometers distant, to the south of Leopoldville, was assessed at 350 chick- 
wangues. 

To equalize as far as possible the burden of this tax, the region was divided 
into three more or less concentric zones. The most remote distance in the 
first zone was 30 kilometers from Leopoldville, the maximum distance in the 
second is 43 kilometers, and in the third 79 kilometers. 

The inhabitants of the nearest zone sspplied their chickwangues every four 
days, those of the second every eight days, those of the third every twelve days. 
As the making of the chickwangue devolves on the women, it is according to 
the number of the women in each village that the amount of the tax is fixed. 
The maximum fixed for each woman is chickwangues for four, eight, and 
twelve days, respectively. 

All the witnesses before the commission of inquiry were unanimous in con- 
demning the system. The asses'sments are exorbitant, and the labor is contin- 
uous, owing to the long journeys which the natives have to make in order to 
supply the station. 

From calculations made by the state officials it is estimated, havmg regard 
to all the preliminary processes, that the production of 1 kilogram of chickwangue 
involves one hour's work, of which four-flfths is rendered by women. The 
average loaf of chickwangue weighs If kilograms. 

It will be seen that the women of the first zone v/ho supply chickwangue at 
intervals of four days render to the State one hundred hours' work per month, 
those of the second about fifty, and those of the third about thirty-three. 

The most burdensome side of this tax is the continuity of labor which it 
involves As chickwangue can be preserved only a few days, the native, even 
by doubling his activity, can not at one time discharge his obligations ex- 
tending over a long period. , . ,. , ^ ^ •*.„ 

The imposition, even if it does not demand his entire time, loses a part ot its 
real character as a tax, and besets him therefore continually, through the 



2^28 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

preoccupation of these approaching deliveries, which make the task lose its 
true character and transforms it into Incessant compulsory labor. 

Bv far the greatest hardship lies in the obligation which rests on the native 
to bring in at a fixed interval his quota of chickwangue. The commission 
declared as inadmissible a system which necessitates the native traveling 150 
kilometers in order to bring in a tax representing a value of approximately 

1.50 francs. ,. , i ^ -^i 

For the most part women, children, and domestic slaves are charged with 
the duty of transport. These constitute the working element of the village, 
and if the greater part of their time is absorbed in the payment of taxes and 
in their personal maintenance they have no opportunity, even if they so desired, 
to give their energies to other labors. Hence the destruction of the native 
industries and the" unquestionable impoverishment of the villages. The evi- 
dence taken before the commission of inquiry was unanimous in testifying to 
the general misery which reigned in those parts. One witness went as far as 

" If the system under which the natives are obliged to supply the 3,000 
laborers at Leopoldville continues for another five years the population of the 
district will have disappeared." 

Without entirely sharing this pessimistic view, the commission admitted that 
there was some truth in it. 

The commission of inquiry suggested that the following remedies might be 
applied. There was. they said, urgent necessity for the establishment in the 
immediate vicinity of the great center of population of " cultures vivrieres," 
the size of which would depend on the number which had to be fed. The wives 
of soldiers might, to a certain extent, be employed upon such work as might be 
best suited to their special aptitudes. In the meantime, the commission thought 
the Government might feed the laborers at certain stations partially on rice or 
dried fish, as the " Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Bas-Congo " fed their 
colored staff. 

In any case, if it were impossible for the Government to reform the system 
radically all at once, and it were necessary for them to continue for some time 
to come to exact a supply of foodstuffs from the taxpayers living at great dis- 
tances, they should take steps to relieve the heavy burden caused by the trans- 
port. This transport should, as far as possible, be performed by mechanical 
or animal power. Thus it would be desirable that in the region of Leopoldville, 
traversed by the railway, arrangements should be made for the transport by 
rail, on easy terms, of the chickwangues furnished by the extreme south of the 
district. If the experimeut made at Leopoldville in 1904 to utilize camels should 
prove satisfactory, this mode of transport should be generalized. 

The secretaries-general, in their report to the King, pointed out, with regard 
to the transport of chickwangue to Leopoldville in the south district, that since 
the 1st July, 1905, in consequence of an abatement in the tariff for certain cate- 
gories of merchandise, the transport of ch'ckwangue by rail had become pos- 
sible, and that since that date the natives had been at liberty to deposit their 
chickwangues at aiirointpd places along the line; but that it had been found that 
only on rare occasions did the natives avail themselves of this advantage, pre- 
ferring to bring the tax in themselves to Leopoldville. 

The State, they said, was becoming daily in a better position to relieve the 
taxpayers living at great distances from furnishing foodstuffs, thanks to the 
measures taken for feeding the native staff: by establishing in the neighborhood 
of the great centers of population of " cultures vivrieres." Such plantations 
had been created in the neighborhood of Leopoldville, Coquilhatville, and Stan- 
leyville. Each plantation employed 300 woikmen, under the direction of an 
expert. The Government had besides ordered at stations of secondary im- 
portance, wherever the nature of the soil would permit, the creation of planta- 
tions of banana trees, arachides, maize, beans, potatoes, rice, manioc, etc. ; 
44 posts already possessed such plantations. Rice was cultivated in large 
quantities at Kitobola. Gongola, and Romee. 

Mr. Vice-Consul Armstrong, in his dispatch of the 2d August, 1907, says: 

"At Leopoldville, the center of the Kongo State's greatest works, namely, the 
head of the lower Kongo Railway and the port for all the upper Kongo river 
steamers, some 2,000 natives are employed. These men are fed by the popula- 
tion of the Stanley Pool district, which is their tax to the State. The natives 
who are obliged to feed these workmen are called upon to travel in many 
instances very long distances to deliver their tax at Leopoldville ; but the great- 
est evil arising from this form of taxation is that the natives are obliged to 



APFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 129 

deliver this tax every four or five days, as the case may be, according to the 
distances they have to travel; but in any case it keeps the population continu- 
ally on the road to Leopoldville, so that, practically speaking, they are never 
free to work for themselves. Although much more leniency is being shown the 
native now than heretofore, nevertheless this tax in no way fulfills the obliga- 
tion of forty hours' labor per month. (Vide 'Bulletin Officiel,' June, 1906. 
Article 2: 'Impositions directes et personnelles.' )" 

Here is what Mr. Thesiger, His Majesty's consul at Boma, says on the subject 
of the tax in chikwaugue and fish : 

" From the administrative point of view the tax in chikwangue, the native 
breadstuff, with which the native employees, laborers, and soldiers are fed in 
the upper Kongo districts, is one of the most important. 

" In Leopoldville the State employs some 1,200 workmen, who, together with 
a detachment of 120 soldiers and their wives and children, number about 2,000 
persons, for whom rations are found by imposing a tax in chikwangue on the 
women living in the surrounding villages. To obtain the necessary supply the 
tax is estimated at 400 kilograms per head yearly, for which, by ' un acte de 
pure coudescendance,' the State pays 6 centimes a kilogram in trade goods, thus 
apparently giving back in kind the full value of the tax of 24 francs imposed. 

"As a matter of fact, the local market of chikwangue is 10 centimes a kilo- 
gram, and on the other side of the Stanley Pool 25 centimes per kilogram can 
be obtained at Brazzaville in the French Kongo. Thus, if the native were free 
to sell the produce of his own lands and of his own labor, each 100 kilograms 
would be worth at least 40 francs, leaving a profit of 16 francs to the native 
even after the maximum tax had been paid. 

" Were this 6 centimes paid in coin the injustice would still be evident, but 
it is paid for in trade cloth, of which the State has in Leopoldville a practical, 
monopoly, at a value of 10 francs a piece of 7 meters, or in other trade goods a 
similar valuation. These figures speak for themselves. It may be further 
noted that the natives, having no use for all the cloth so earned, are glad to 
sell it again at 8 francs a piece, thus incurring a diminution of their wage. 
This is so generally the case that a regular trade is carried on in the cloth so 
retailed. 

"As regards the time and labor necessary to produce these 400 kilograms of 
chikwangue, the reports of Mr. Vice-Consul Armstrong and the missionaries 
all agree that to produce the amount necessary to free her of all obligations 
to the State each woman has practically to work incessantly twelve months 
in the year. So much so is this the case that Mr. Armstrong reports ' it is 
impossible for any of them to leave their villages at any time for fear of the 
consequences of a shortage in the supply, for which they are liable to punish- 
ment,' while the Rev. Mr. Stonelake and the Rev. Mr. Hope-Morgan both testify 
that, in consequence of the incessant labor imposed by this tax, the women 
have practically ceased to bear children. Their work is further increased 
by the fact that the chikwangue has to be brought in every four, eight, or 
twelve days, and, although this is supposed to be the men's work, as a matter 
of fact it is carried out to a very large extent by the women and children. 

" Forced labor such as this differs only in name from slavery, and by it the 
administration are enabled to feed their workmen at a merely nominal rate, 
instead of having to buy chikwangue on the open market or of importing rice 
at a considerable cost to the State. 

"A solution of this question would be the payment to the state workmen of 
what is known here as ' chop money,' namely, a weekly sum for food, which 
each man then provides for himself. By this means the supply of locnl produce 
would be encouraged, the native producer would get a fair price, while the cost 
to the State would be small. It would, however, mean the introduction of a 
svstem of payment to the workmen in coin and indirectly facilitate the payment 
of the taxes in money, two things which the administration have no wish to 

introduce into the upper Kongo. ^^^^ -^ ^, ,. • ^i t , ^ 

" Mr Armstrong's report of the 17th December, 1907, shows that m the Lake 
Leopold II district the price paid for the chikwangue is 4 centimes a kuogram 
mentioning especially Moleke. where the village has to supply 50 bimches ot 
chikwangue and 50 bunches of fish weekly, and the natives complam that they 
receive nractically nothing for their tax. which occupies the greater portion of 
tteHa^'s work ' At N'celenge the tax is 200 chikwangues and 200 fish daily, 
and each woman having to deposit 5 chikwangues, weighing about half a kilo- 
gram each every morning on the beach, and this amount has to be taken across 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 ^9 



230 AJPFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

the lake to Inongo every day. Here, again, Mr. Armstrong notes that they 
complained ' only of the remuneration, and not of the endless work imposed 

"^" These^cases bear out what I have said in the introduction to this memo- 
randum as to the tax being limited only by the needs of the State on the work- 
ing capacity of the native, as, around Leopoldville, where the soil is poor, 400 
kilo<^rams a year is about the limit each woman can produce, while in the more 
productive forest laud the quantity is about doubled and the remuneration 
decreased, so that the nominal money value of the tax remains unchanged. 

" Mr. Consul-General Smith's report bears out these statements and, talking 
of the Leopoldville district, he says : ' In my visits to the surrounding villages 
I did not see a woman who was not busily engaged in making chikwangue for 
the State, from which they receive but a trifle more than half its market value 
at Leopoldville.' In the same report he mentions that 'at Bolenge the tax in 
dried fish is 4 bunches per week per man, weighing about 1 pound to the bunch. 
The price paid is 1 mitako (small brass rods) per bunch, while the current value 
is ten to fifteen times this amount. The native fishermen complain of the diffi- 
culties of supplying the amount demanded and the inadequacy of the remunera- 
tion. In high water, when fish are scarce, they are obliged to go a distance of 
80 miles to the Ubanghi River to secure them.' And again : 'At Lulanga similar 
conditions prevail; the remuneration for the kwanga (chikwangue) and fish 
Is only one-tenth of its current value, and I learned on the best authority that 
the soldiers sold their rations exacted by the State as a tax at a price ten 
times in excess of the remuneration allowed the native.' 

" These instances of the state's dealing with the native, which are examples 
of, and not exceptions to the general rule, could be increased indefinitely, but 
are I think sufficient to prove that the administration under the present system 
of taxation treat the actual produce and property of the native as their own, 
inexorably exacting what they need and paying for it what they choose. 

" Under these circumstances the depopulation of these districts, to which 
Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Smith both bear witness, is scarcely surprising, and it is 
certain large numbers of the natives fly to the French side to escape the bur- 
dens put upon them by the State; while the incessant work and exposure, 
especially in the rubber-collecting districts, must encourage the ravages of 
smallpox and sleeping sickness among an underfed and overworked population." 
Here is what Mr. Vice-Consul Armstrong says in the passages above 
referred to : 

"The taxation of women in money (and in kwanga) creates a precedent 
which does not exist in any West African colony as far as I am aware, and it 
necessarily follows that women who can not supply chikwangue are permitted 
to pay their tax in money where they are living with their countrymen outside 
their towns who are in the employment of the missions or the traders, etc., 
which means that married men are called upon to supply a double tax. 

" The tax in chikwangue falls exceedingly hard upon the female population 
of this district. It is the women alone who supply this tax, which is imposed 
as follows: 

" The tax, when levied in chikwangue, is based upon a value of 24 francs 
per annum. The market value at Leopoldville is 10 centimes per kilogram. 
The State remunerates the native at the rate of 6 centimes per kilogram, and 
the difference, viz, 4 centimes, is credited to him for the payment of his tax. 

" It is impossible to fix this tax with regard to the law of forty hours' labor 
per month. The time which each native occupies in making gardens, clearing 
forest, cultivating the plants, transporting the root from garden to village, soak- 
ing in water previously to eventually pounding and boiling to render it the 
taxable produce, is impossible of calculation. 

" The amount required of each woman is therefore 400 kilograms per annum, 
which is calculated by the State as follows: 

" Four hundred kilograms at 10 centimes market value, 40 francs. 
" Four hundred kilograms at 6 centimes state valuation, 24 francs. 
" The difference is therefore the amount of her tax, viz, 16 francs. 
"The men, on the other hand, are taxed in labor, which is not supposed to 
exceed forty hours per month. Their duties consist in carrying the tax in 
chikwangue to the State, an obligation which they do not always carry out, as 
one frequently sees both women and children engaged in this work. 

" For the convenience and equalization of porterage the districts supplying 
chikwangue are divided into zones. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 131 

" In the first zone the villages range from one hour to a day's journey from 
the receiving station. The natives supply their tax every four days. 

" In the second zone, from one to two day's distance, in which case the tax 
is supplied every eight days. The third zone has now been abolished, and the 
people take their tax to a post on the railway every four days, and are allowed 
8 centimes per kilogram instead of 6 centimes as in the first and second zones. 

" To what extent they are subject to other ' corv§es ' depends entirely upon 
the demands of the state authorities in the district. The villagers are natu- 
rally dependent to a certain extent upon the men to carry the food tax to the 
state posts ; but the law recognizes the right of the ' commissaire de district ' 
to call upon the men for purposes of porterage in the district. I am not aware 
that such porterage is demanded to any large extent, and, indeed, the needs 
of the chikwangue-carrying almost precludes the State from levying anything 
but a very small percentage of the male population for porterage, as the food 
tax is required to be carried to the state posts every four or eight days, ac- 
cording to the distance of the towns from the state receiving posts throughout 
the year. 

" The natives complain very bitterly of the hardship of this tax. I am in- 
formed by the natives themselves, the missionaries, and from intelligent natives 
who have received good educations and whose testimony I should accept with- 
out reserve, that the women are constantly at work to supply this tax. To such 
an extent is this true that it is impossible for any one of them to leave their 
towns at any time for fear of the consequences of a shortage in the supply, 
for which they are liable to punishment. 

" I have received several complaints from the natives that no reduction was 
made to them for reason of sickness in their towns, and I am told by the 
authorities, to whom I mentioned this complaint, that the natives in many cases 
address such complaints only to the receivers of taxes, who are not authorized 
to grant reductions and who it would appear take little or no interest in the 
natives, instead of to the ' commissaire de district ' or the judicial authorities. 
I was further informed that the competent authorities had received no com- 
plaints from the natives since the application of the June, 1906, decrees; and 
this statement would appear to confirm the opinion that the natives made their 
representations through the wrong channels. 

" In summarizing the foregoing report, the most important points are : 

" 1. The severity of the tax upon the women, which I am told, on good 
authority, has seriously reduced the birth rate in the towns. 

" 2. The constant work involved by making chikwangue almost every day, 
and which is required to be delivered every four or eight days. 

" 3. The frequency with which the taxes become due curtails the freedom 
of the native to such an extent as to preclude him from doing anything which 
would be of material benefit to himself or family. 

" The reason for making the chikwangue tax payable in such a constant man- 
ner, and in such short intervals, is that it spoils in a few days, and unless quite 
fresh it is almost uneatable. 

" With regard to the porterage of the food, which devolves upon the men, 
I would point out that it does not, as far as I am able to find out, require all 
the men in the town to carry the tax to the post on each market day, and the 
reason that women and children are often employed in carrying out this 
'corvee' is that the men are to a large extent engaged in the making of new 
plantations, hunting for game, which forms a large portion of their customary 
food, etc. This would account for the misstatements so often made that the 
men do no work, and leave it all to the women. Native customs define clearly 
the duties of men and women, and do not differ widely in this respect with 
European customs, and although the duties of the former are perhaps more 
varied and thus less burdensome, the degi-ee of those duties is none the less 
important to the welfare of the town. 

"The men's duties as applied to towns and districts paying taxes in chik- 
wangue are, perhaps, at the present time of very small importance, but this is 
due to the fact that they have no business, having practically nothing left to 
them to trade with. A very important item in the native man's duty is the 
construction and repairing of their houses, which, judging from the condition 
of the houses in every part of the State that I have visited— with the exception 
of the state camps, which are admirably built, and none more excellent from 
every point of view than those at Leopoldville— would go to prove that the 
extent of their duties to the State were exceedingly heavy. 



132 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

" Since mv arrival in Leopoldville in April last I have heard of no cases of 
imprisonment or restraint of any kind being imposed upon the natives for 
shortage in their taxes. Exceptional leniency in this respect would seem to 
prevail- nor do I believe that such punishments have been inflicted, and this 
consideration toward the native would be proved by the fact that I knew of a 
village close to Leopoldville that had failed to bring in its tax for several 
months." 

Further on Mr. Armstrong says : 

" In the adjoining French colony the price of chikwangue is higher than m 
the Kongo Free State. This is due to the fact that in the French colony the 
price of foodstuff is governed by the supply and demand of a free market." 

" A market has now been built at Leopoldville, and the natives who are free 
to dispose of their foodstuffs are gradually being brought to avail themselves 
of the benefits it affords. 

" It is obvious that the reform decrees as applied to this district are quite 
inadequate." 

Mr. Vice-Consul Armstrong reports in his dispatch of the 17th December, 

1907 : 

" From N'gongo I went to Lishoko, a small village near the state post ot 
M'bongo. The people of this town make 250 chikwangues, which have to be 
taken to the state post, about 6 miles distant, every four days. 

" The village and its dependencies number 26 working men. It formerly 
contained 30, 4 having run away to Bolobo. 

" The supply of chikwangue is the woman's tax, and the men have to supply 
palm leaves and string for roofing houses and large mats, which are eventually 
sent to the new state post at Inongo. 

" The conditions of the people here are identical with those of other villages 
supplying chikwangue." 

In his report on his tour to the Lake Leopold II district in August, 1907, 
Mr. Vice-Consul Armstrong reports as follows: 

" The length of the M'fimi River, i. e., from Mushie to the entrance of Lake 
Leopold II, I should judge to be about 150 miles, and the inhabitants upon its 
banks belong to the Ba-boma tribe. 

" The people of these river villages supply a chikwangue and fish tax to the 
State. I was unable to find out the amount in kilograms which the towns at 
which I stopped supplied, but I presume the tax is everywhere the same, and 
none the less burdensome than in other parts. 

"At the village of Moleke, situated at a distance of about 40 miles from 
Mushie, the people supplied 50 ' bunches ' of chikwangue and 50 ' bunches ' of 
fish every week, which they have to deliver at Mushie by canoe. The 50 
'bunches' of chikwangue I presume to mean 50 kilograms. 

" The state valuation of the kwanga is 4 centimes per kilogram. 

" The natives complained that they received practically nothing for their 
tax, which occupies the greater portion of their day's work. 

" They are supposed to be paid at the rate of 4 centimes per kilogram for 
their chikwangue, which, if carried out, would mean that the village tax in 
money would amount to 104 francs per annum, and in return they would 
receive 104 francs' worth of merchandise; but the valratiou is a purely arbi- 
trary one. since, by the system of monopoly no competition exists, and there- 
fore no relative value can be attached to the produce. No one but the state 
agents visit this part of the country, with the exception of the Roman Cath- 
olic missionaries, who travel on state steamers, and who profit by the prices 
fixed by the State. 

" The people are paid by the State in trade goods for their produce, and as 
the transport of merchandise upon the river steamers from Leopoldville to the 
Lake Leopold II costs 90 francs (31. 12s.) per ton. the prices of merchandise, 
which consists chiefiy of cotton cloth and salt, are very high. I found that a 
yard of ordinary cotton cloth costs 1.62 francs per fathom ; whereas salt, which 
IS of a very good quality, is valued at 2 francs per kilogram." 

Further on in the same report Mr. Armstrong says: 

"From Inongo I crossed the lake to N'celenge, a native village on the 
lake, about an hour's steam from Inongo, the place of delivery of the rubber 
tax of a group of villages. This village consists of about 100 people. Their tax 
to the State is 200 chikwangue and 200 fish, which has to be taken across 
the lake to Inongo in canoes every day. There are 40 women in the town, and 
each one has to deposit 5 chikwangas on the beach every morning, each weigh- 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. I33 

Ing about half a Idlogram. This foodstuff is vahied by the State at 4 centimes 
per kilogram, and the natives are paid accordin-lv centimes 

m'I^Ti!.'^''"''^ labor is vahied at S centimes per day, or 2 francs 40 centimes 
^J^lJ^'^?^^}^^^^''-}' to their food (chikwangue), which Is sT 



* S """•-" w^ .^.<, ...i.,sc uuiiipiaiueu onjy or their remuneration and not 
of the endless work imposed upon them, their rensons being tha they worked 
rubber, to obtain which they had to go very long distances, there being none 
left in the forest surrounding their village 

"Ti'*'//if*^^'*'''' ^l^Pointed one of the villagers as capita, and his duty is to 

;e that the taxes are duly paid. He informed me that it was very difficult 



those who were short. It happened that after I had left this village on a visit 
to the interior towns one of these messengers was sent to N'celen-e and the 
captain of my steamer, whom I had left at the village awaiting further in 
structions, tells me that this messenger caught several people, chastised them 
tor not having brought over their daily tax to the state post of Inougo com- 
mandered two or three fowls for himself, and threatened them with imprison- 
ment if they did not at once fulfill their obligations. 

" It is most important that the State should receive their foodstuff re«-ularlv 
otherwise their workmen would be short of food. " 

"The chief of N'celenge had no authority whatever over the people beine 
unable to relieve them of their work or benefit them in any way." 

Mr. Vice-Consul Michell says in his report of the 23d March 1907 • 

"With regard to women, the making of kwanga, etc., has always been in 
force, and many kinds of work have long been performed by women But it 



. , , ^ . ^ ^. ^. ^. . , principe de I'impot en 

general, sans faire de distinction entre les sexes.' " 

Here is what Mr. Michell says in regard to the plantations instituted by the 
State, and the encouragement given to native agi-iculture : 

" The other wild fruits of the forest form the staple food of the natives, and 
their cultivation is a matter of perfect indifference to the State. It will' be 
noticed that in the section on agriculture nearly the whole space is taken up 
with (1) india-rubber, (2) cocoa, (3) coffee, (4) spices, and other products 
purely for export. Such articles as do not pay for export, as, for instance, 
cocoa and coffee, are being abandoned, only sufficient being raised to supply 
the state agents. 

"All the efforts of the botanical gardens at Eala are directed to raising plants 
that will pay. Those which only serve for native consumption, such as bananas, 
manioc, sugar cane, maize, rice, sesame, and monkey nuts are left entirely to 
the natives to cultivate or degenerate as they will. The natives owe nothing 
that they eat to the Government; rice was introduced by the Arabs, and the 
State lays a very heavy tax on it. The paragraph on page 139 seems to imply 
that the State plants rice; this is not the case. The Mahonimedan population 
and time-expired soldiers and workmen are compelled by the State to plant 
rice, which the State buys from them at such a ridiculously low price that it 
amounts to a severe imposition upon these classes. The 1,000 tons of rice 
'negotiated on the market of Stanleyville' has been one of the heaviest bur- 
dens that district has had to bear. 

" Kwanga and smoked fish are native inventions and fabrications. The State, 
instead of favoring these products, nearly strangles them with incessant heavy 
impositions. 

" The policy of the State is well illustrated in the case of cotton. Although 
there is no reason why the cultivation and manufacture of this fiber should not 
become an important industry, as in northern Nigeria, the State does nothing to 
favor it, as it does not pay for export. The plant is widely distributed and 
grows freely, but the valuable oil to be extracted from its seeds seems to be 
entirely unknown. The natives are greedy of oil and use great quantities, which 
they extract laboriously from peanuts, sesame, and palm kernels. I have sug- 
gested the use of cotton-seed oil to many chiefs, but they had never heard of it 
before. There are many other products which grow freely, such as fenugreek, 
chick-peas (' garbanzos '), ginger, cloves, onions, vetches, and all kinds of 



134 APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

leguminous plants, which would be of immense value to the badly fed natives 
and their flocks, but which would require the encouragement of the State. 
Needless to say, the Government does not give the subject a thought, but con- 
tents itself with saying, ' It is diflicult to induce the native to undertalie the 
cultivation of anything more than the needs of his own existence require.' " 

Products of the Domain. 

RUBBER. 

The collecting of copal, whether as fossil or resin, involves no hardship and 
the commission of inquiry received no complaints on the subject. His Majesty's 
Government need therefore not dwell on this point. It is, however, otherwise 
with rubber. The collection of rubber is by far the most important and the 
most oppressive tax in the Kongo. It is the main subject of complaint as con- 
stituting a breach of Article VI of the Berlin act. Rubber is obtained by means 
of incisions made in the bark of certain trees and vines, and collecting the rub- 
ber in special receptacles into which the latex flows. After a few hours these 
cups are emptied, and the contents, allowed to coagulate, are brought to the 
government station in different forms, varying according to the distri(^t. In 
spite of the regulations for the preservation of the vine, the native often cuts 
the vine instead of making the incision, in order to enable him to obtain the 
latex more rapidly. The commission were entirely unable to estimate the 
wealth of rubber in the State. It is a much disputed point, but fhey expressed 
the opinion that an exploitation which has lasted a good number of years has 
caused the exhaustion of the supply in the immediate vicinity of the villages. 

This is an important point, as the greater the distance which the native has 
to go to collect the rubber the greater becomes the hardship of the tax. 

This fact, the commission said, explains the repugnance of the native for 
collecting rubber, which in itself is not a peculiarly unpleasant task : 

"Dans la plupart des cas," say the commissioners, "en elfet, 11- [TindigSne] 
doit, chaque quinzaine, faire une ou deux journees de marche, et parfois 
davantage, pour se rendre il I'endroit de la foret ou 11 pent trouver, en assez 
grande abondance, les lianes caoutchoutieres. La, le recolteur mene. pendant 
un certain nombre de jours, une existence miserable. II doit se construire un 
abri improvise, qui ne pent evidemment remplacer sa hutte, il n'a pas la nour- 
riture h laquelle il est accoutume, il est prive de sa fenime, expose aux in- 
temperies de Fair et aux attaques des betes fauves. Sa recolte, il doit I'ap- 
porter au poste de I'Etat ou de la Compagnie, et ce n'est qu'apres cela qu'il rentre 
dans son village, oil il ne pent guere sejourner que deux ou trois jours, car 
I'echeance nouvelle le presse. II en resulte que, quelle que soit son activite dans 
la foret caoutchoutiere, I'indig&ne, a raison des nombreux deplacements qui lui 
sont imposes voit la majeure partie de son temps absorbe par la recolte du 
caoutchouc." 

It was scarcely necessary to remark, said the commission of inquiry, that this 
state of affairs constituted a flagrant violation of the law of " forty hours." 

" Selon nous," they said, " la seule maniere de mettre les uecessites de 
I'impot d'accord avec le texte et I'esprit de cette loi consisterait h espacer 
considerablement les echeances. De cette fa(^on le temps absorbe par les 
deplacements imposes a I'indig^ne pour se rendre a la for§t et en revenir 
perdrait de son importance, et le Decret qui flxe a qnarante heures par niois 
le travail reclame du contribuable pourrait recevoir une equitable application, 
si la quantite de caoutchouc demandee est sagement fixee et cesse d'etre, 
comme aujourd'hui, un maximum rarement atteinte, qu'il est permis de croire 
exagere." On objecte Timprevoyance qui fait le fond du caractere indigene, 
et Ton croit qu'il serait toujours tente de retarder le moment ou il devrait se 
mettre en mesure de satisfaire a ses obligations. Toutefois, nous pensons 
qu'on pourrait, sans grand inconvenient, reclamer du contribuable J'acquitte- 
ment de ea dette tons les trois mois, par exemple, et alors, au moment voulu, 
le blanc rappellerait au negre insouciant ses devoirs. Les sgjours dans la 

looamp^''"^?/"fp,!^nU*'^^"*''^Tf "i^in^ndee H titre d'impot varie peneralement d'apr6s les 
So P<;t In nn«ntiL nT,?"""^'-'''^^- ^ '^ commission d'indiqupr raeme approximativement 
encVuaranJ hP«rP« r.t^t^.r^-,"'^'?^"'^' une fois arrive sur le lieu de la recolte, pent obtenir 
enquaranie heures de travail. Les opinions es p us diverses ont 6te emises 'i ee sniet 

r^B f!r'e^1|n\^/^1nr«''^'" '"''' ''\.P^y'-}-^^^ J^-^d." Mais ll fa"f con stafe 'dins 
Upporte souvenrnnMin n nnt-trT- ''"■ ' !".d'-ene. apr&s un Ions sejour dans la forft ne 
3e?ue'ce7auz'e"st °enSi^l exag6r°/"'''"'' ^"^ *"^" ^' rimposition, nous permet de 



APPAIES m THE KONGO. 135 

for§t deyant etre plus longs, mais molns frequents, le recolteur jugerait sans 
doute utile de s'y construire un abri plus commode et de s'y faire accompaSei 
par sa femme, qui pourrait lui preparer sa nourriture accoutumee ^^""^P^^"^' 
atv. lni"f ^f -""^ 1^ P(^J^^^ de la commission, I'impot devant necessairement 
etre collectif, a_ cause de la difficulte de dresser les roles nominatifs les 
fftl'^,\'S«'^^f H'"'"'^^''''* de I'espacement des echeances seront sensiblement 
attenues et, d autre part, il pourra etre tenu compte, dans une plus large 
mesure, des convenances personnelles des contribuables 

" II va de soi que si, dans certains cas, I'impSt 'collectif ayant comme 
corollaire 1 espacement des echeances n'etait pas etabli, il faudrait dans le 
calcul des heures de travail, avoir egard au temps que prennent a I'indiggne les 
deplacemeuts inseparables de la recolte du caoutchouc." 

The secretaries-general, in their report, referring to the 'Juggestion of the 
commission of inquiry that the intervals between the paymenis of the tax 
should be extended, said that the new decree had taken it into account by 
laying down that in principle the tax was payable monthly ("par douzieme") • 
it further empowered the " commissaires de district" to fix the dates on 
which the tax should fall due at intervals of two or more months, accordin-' 
to local requirements and the needs of the population. 

At every station would be publicly posted a copy of the list of the taxpayers 
of region. Every taxpayer could there ascertain the amount of his tax, the 
mode of payment, and the date of collection. 

Article 29 of the new decree provided that the governor-general, in excep- 
tional circumstances, might by order remit the native tax either in whole or 
in part. Article 2 of the law exempted the native, if physically unfit, from 
the payment of the tax, since the article only applied to the able-bodied. 
The provisions of article 29 contemplated cases of a more general remission, 
such as the case of a people stricken with disease — sleeping sickness, for 
instance — or afllicted by some calamity, who might be unable to fulfill their duty. 

The law, said the secretaries-general, could not do more than set up these 
general rules. It would be the duty of the higher local authorities to subject 
the agents intrusted with the collection of the tax to the continual and vigilant 
control which the former had been ordered to exercise. These agents — on 
whose decision did not depend the amount of the tax, since their powers were 
limited and defined ; who were punishable for abuse of power ; who were 
without direct interest in the yield of the tax — were called upon to discharge 
their functions in the Kongo under the same conditions as those of the fiscal 
agents of any other colony. If the provisions of the law were strictly applied, 
as should in future be the case, the criticisms which the commission made 
when examining the difi'ereut kinds of taxes could not be repeated, neither 
with regard to the amount of the tax, its continuity, nor the indiscriminate 
employment of force. The disadvantages arising from the necessity of the 
taxpayers having to travel great distances equally found their remedies in the 
greater intervals between the dates when the tax fell due. The governor- 
general was already in a position to affirm that these intervals had been fixed 
in agreement with the native chiefs, so as to obtain the desired result. 

Now let us compare these reassuring statements of the secretaries-general 
with the actual state of affairs at the present moment, as reported by His 
Majesty's consular officers and the United States' consular-general at Boma since 
the issue of the reform decrees. 

Vice-Consul Michell says : 

" The imposition of taxation on both men and women is not only a hardship, 
but an unmitigated evil. In one case that I know of the whole population 
was constantly at work. At Liboko, on the Lindi, there are three large villages 
all the men of which were employed for about twenty-two days in every mouth 
making rubber, making baskets, and then carrying it to Bengamisa. The 
women accompany their husbands for a part of the time ; the rest of the month 
is taken up by carrying loads for the state transport between Kaparata and 
Bengamisa. All the porterage between the mouth of the Lindi and Banalya, 
on the Aruwimi, is to my knowledge done by the women. The children are 
not compelled to accompany their parents, but they generally do so, because 
if they stay in the village the sentry, or, as he is now called, the 'messager 
indigene,' finds work for them to do, carrying sticks, leaves, and other build- 
ing materials. The consequence is that a school which was started in the 
triple village, with 100 names on the book, by a native teacher, at the urgent 
request of the chiefs, dwindled away to nothing in a few days. The people 
made a ^-eat feast on the opening of the school, but the ' messagers ' (there 



136 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

were four of tbem) reported that it would interfere witli the collection of 
rubber, and it was suppressed by the agent at Bengamisa. On my reporting 
the case to the 'chef de province' the agent was removed, and the school was 
allowed to reopen. But this is only one village of which I happened to hear. 
The abuse is likely to occur, and doubtless exists all along the Lindi and 
probably in many other places. 

" It is difficult to see what advantages such a system secures to these tax- 
payers.' " 

Vice-Consul Beak says, reporting on his tour in the Katanga : 

" I am unable to quote figures, but, as in the case of the lower Kongo, every 
station between Ponthierville and Kabombo, where the rubber zone may be 
said practically to end, reports a decrease in the yield. The reports of forest 
inspectors, the most reliable informants, are most disheartening. They tell of 
the wholesale and wanton destruction of valuable vines by the native in order 
to comply with the Government's demands. These reports are confirmed in 
general by those received from native sources. The natives declare that ' rub- 
ber is no longer like the waters of the Kongo, nor like the stones at Matadi,' 
and that they must ' go far ' to find it." 

In another report Mr. Beak says : 

" The villages immediately to the south of the fifth parallel are taxed in 
rubber, which in this vicinity is, or rather has been, fairly plentiful, and for 
this purpose they again are grouped under local chiefs. They take rubber to 
the post of Tshofa, on the Lomami. In this section I found dissatisfaction very 
general and complaints numerous. Although the information given is from 
purely native sources, I have adequate reasons in this particular case for be- 
lieving it to be correct. 

" Four instances will, I think, suffice : 

" 1. Village of Manene Lubangi : Rubber tax, 240 kilograms every two 
months to be delivered at Tshofa, on the Lomami. Receipts for month of 
January, 1907, 130 kilograms. Rubber to be found four days distant from 
village, thence to Tshofa, a journey of ten days. Rubber scarce. Collection 
takes up whole time of all inhabitants. This village pays neighboring chief 
three goats a month for permission to cut rubber in his territory. 

" 2. Village of Bena Hamba : Tribe, Balubas. Tax, 12 kilograms of rubber 
every two months, for which natives pay 2 dotis (6s. 8d.). Rubber plentiful 
close tQ village, but few people to collect it because sleeping sickness has re- 
duced population from 200 to 40. 

" 3. Village of Katangi : Chief, Wwana Kasongo. Tribe, Bena Kumbi. Under 
' poste ' of Tshofa, on Lomami. Population of Bena Kumbi group of villages, 
302 men. Rubber tax, 351 kilograms every two mouths. Amount paid al- 
ready : 15th January, 98 kilograms ; 10th April, 70 kilograms. In 1905 these 
villages furnished 2,797 kilograms of rubber to the ' poste de muebe.' Among 
them is one refractory village, Bena Missi, which refused to collect rubber. A 
month ago the chief sent thither his brother, whom the inhabitants killed. 
This fact not yet reported to ' chef de poste ' at Tshofa. Rubber used to be 
plentiful, but now scarce on account of white demand. Vine cut indiscrimi- 
nately in spite of orders to the contrary. For this rubber collection whole 
village migrates temporarily to bush, where grass shelters are built. Women 
and children accompany men to assist and to prepare food. 

"4. Village of Kassongo Kiboko. Headquarters of Moina, chief of Bena 
Kumbi, who is overlord of 9 villages. Appointed or confirmed on the 8th June, 
1902. Fays rubber monthly to Tshofa. Formerly paid 6 bags per mensem, but 
now only 2, because sleeping sickness has killed more than half his people 
(this particular village 14 deaths out of population of 40). Rubber four days 
distant from village ; three days thence to Tshofa. Forty men working whole 
month can collect one bag, for which they receive 2 dotis (6s. 8d.). Grass 
huts in bush; whole village migrates, etc. 

" So much has already been both said and written on the evils of the rubber 
tax that I refrain from making any comment on the instances quoted above." 

Again : 

"The tax may assume various forms, professedly to suit the convenience 
of the natives, more really, I think, to answer the requirements of the com- 
pany. The local official decides what form the taxation of his district shall 
take, and if he has any regard for his own advancement he will exact rubber 
wherever it exists. The collection of rubber involves hardships in compari- 
son with wh! h those of the 'corvee' and transport are insignificant. The 



AI^FAIRS IN THE KONGO. "IS 7 

long list of taxation in kind serves iu some degree to conceal the rubber tax 
which the native loathes more than anything else. The evils of this rubber tax 
have been too fully dealt vs^ith elsevs^here to need recapitulation." 

Vice-Consul Mitchell, reporting on his tour in the Ubanghi district, says • 

"At Moenge I was kindly received by M. Redard, a Swiss, in sole charge of 
the post. Here a very interesting condition prevails. M. Redard told me that 
he had never been to any of the vihages of his district with a single armed 
man, nor had he made any effort to compel the natives to bring in rubber. He 
explains to the chiefs the necessity of paying the tax, and the advisability of 
doing so voluntarily, in order to avoid punitive expeditions, which would be 
conducted by military officers and not by himself. The consequence is that, 
without leaving his post, the monthly tale of rubber brought in has risen froni 
300 kilograms to 1.000 and 1,200 kilograms. This, considering the poverty in 
rubber of the forests of the Itimbiri, he considers extremely satisfactory, and 
he informed me that he intended to quote his own experience to the author- 
ities at Brussels as a proof that the natives are amenable to mild and rea- 
sonable treatment. In other posts on the Itimbiri M. Redard's success was 
acknowledged, but it was attributed to the influx of tribes from other districts 
into his own, the population having thus largely increased. 

" Doubtless M. Redard would reply that this also was due to the attrac- 
tion of his treatment of them. 

" From Moenge I proceeded to Mandungu, where a different method is in 
force. At several villages on the way I received complaints of the pressure put 
on the natives to bring in rubber, which, they said, was now nearly exhausted, 
while their natural employment was fishing and paddlhig. There is a sharp line 
of division in this country between river populations and bush folk, the two 
classes being usually on bad terms. Even between themselves the fishermen 
of one season do not combine with those of another season, and cultivators of 
fields are distinct from those who live by hunting, so that river people object 
to being taxed in rubber, and their presence in the forests is resented by the 
bushmen. The consequence is that M. Delforge, the ' chef de poste ' at Man- 
dungu, and Mi-. Johansen, who is in charge of the detachment of ' force pub- 
lique,' spend alternately most of their time in the district visiting villages with 
an armed escort in order to induce the people to bring in their rubber. I heard 
no complaints of ill-treatment, but at several villages the people were weary 
and depressed, affirming that the men and children had to work ' every day ' for 
Bula Matadi." 

Mr. Vice-Consul Armstrong says, reporting on his tour in the Lake Leopold II 
district in August, 1907 : 

" I was informed by the ' chef de poste ' at Nioki that the villages within his 
district were taxed in rubber. The amount of rubber required of ench adult 
male native was 1 kilogram 200 grams per month. This represents 14 kilograms 
400 grams per annum, or a tax of 7 francs per head in money, the rubber 
being valued at 50 centimes (or 5d.) per kilogram. For this each native 
receives a remuneration of 7 francs 20 centimes in trade goods, i. e., the state 
valuation of his tax. 

" This amount of 1 kilogram 200 grams of rubber is calculated by the State 
as forty hours' work. 

"The natives in the district of Nioki formerly made 4 tons of rubber per 
month, but since the 'strict observance' (a statement which subsequent ex- 
perience entirely refutes) of the law of forty hours' labor this has been reduced 
to 1 ton 200 kilograms per month. The 'chef de poste' informed me thnt the 
natives in his district had refused to work rubber, and were paying nothing to 
the State as a tax. I was unable to visit these towns, being desirous of devoting 
my attention to the disti-icts on the banks of the lake. 

"At the next post, N'kutu, I found that practically the same conditions pre- 
vailed as at the former place. . 

" No action had been taken by the State, up to the time I left, aganist these 
people who had paid no taxes." 

Again : , ^ . , 

"The villa«-e of M'pili consists of a few small huts, and contams a male 
population of 10 adults. Their tax to the State is 1 kilogram of rubber per 
iuan per month, or 120 kilograms per annum for the whole village, which, cal- 
culated upon a money value of 50 centimes per kilogram, the remuneration 
which the State allows them, amounts to 60 francs (£2 Ss.) per annum for the 
whole village. 



138 API' AIRS IN THE KONGO. 

" Tliis amonut they are paid in trade goods, i. e., cotton cloth or salt, in the 

following manner: , .. ^ ^i, x 

"At the end of every thirty days, which is called market day, the tax is 
taken to N'celenge, a few hours distant from their village. 

"The work of two men (called by the State a 'chef de groupe') is put 
together, which should amount to 15 strings (each man making 7i strings). 

" One man of each ' chef de groupe ' is deputed to carry this amount to 
N'eclenge, so that 5 men only have to appear on market days. If the amount 
which each man brings is of good quality, and none but the best is accepted 
(all inferior being burnt), he receives in exchange 2 yards of cotton cloth 
(i. e., I yard each). One string of rubber weighs when dry 170 grams, so that 
on market day it is wet, and must weigh more than 170 grams, as it takes 
about three months to dry, I am told. 

"If the amount is less than that specified by the State the native receives 
payment in proportion to the amount which he brings. 

" One of the natives of this village brought me a strip of common white 
domestic, about 2 yards long and 12 inches wide, which he stated he had 
received in payment of his rubber, complaining that he had not received his 
full payment, and adding that a piece of cloth of such dimensions was of no 
value to him. 

" In answer to my questions, he stated that his rubber tax for the month 
had been completed. 

" I mentioned this to the ' inspecteur d'etat,' whom I met afterwards in the 
lake, and he explained to me that he had received similar complaints, but that 
he had in each case proved to the native that the amount specified had not 
been brought in. 

" He also stated that the native could allow his remuneration to accumulate 
if he so desired, but they were ' so distrustful ' of the European that they pre- 
ferred to take what they were given at the time it was due. 

" I do not in the least doubt the absolute sincerity of the ' inspecteur d'etat,' 
whose statements I accept without hesitation ; but in this case, from what I 
have seen and heard from others, I should be inclined to the opinion that 
the natives' distru.stfulness was due chiefiy to fear of the European, for, in 
order to maintain the present system of rubber taxation, nothing but fear 
of the consequences of shortage in the supply could make them fulfill their 
obligations and submit to a tax involving incessant labor. 

" The natives assured me that they spent twenty days and nights in the 
forest in each month to collect the amount of their tax. They told me that they 
were not ill-treated by the officials; and that they were tl-ankful the armed 
sentries have been withdrawn from their towns ; their people were no longer 
killed, and that they were living in the hope that their taxes would be 
reduced. 

"A capita resides in the village and is chosen from among the inhabitants. 
His duty is to see that the taxes are duly carried to the state post when they 
become due at the end of the thirty daj'S, and for this purpose he has a calendar 
made of thirty small sticks threaded on a string, one of which he moves every 
day. He receives no remuneration from the State, and therefore takes a 
share of his townsmen's earnings. 

" From M'pili I walked to N'gongo, which I believe to be the largest village 
on the west side of the lake. 

" The village, together with a few small villages in the surrounding country, 
contained, according to the census made by the State, 120 adult men, 17 of 
whom had recently run away to the mission station at Bolobo to escape the 
hardships of the rubber tax, and others, the chief told me, were on the verge 
of departure, which I should think was highly probable. 

" This village was once very large and influential, but the history of past 
years, which has been written by Mr. Consul Casement and Mr. Scrivener, of 
the Baptist Missionary Society, the information of the chief and natives who 
survived the treatment, and the manifest evidences of these abuses which are 
still witness of past maladministration, convince me that the population must 
have formerly been very dense. 

"A number of people have fled to the village nearer the main river, and have 
placed themselves under the protection of the respective chiefs of the villages 
at which they reside. 

" I refer to past abuses not with the intention of hinting that such things 
are still in existence, but with a view of explaining the possibility of enforcing 
the payment of taxes which are such a burden to the people. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 139 

r " T^lf village (N'gongo) supplies 1,440 kilograms of rubber per annum The 
lax IS 6 francs per head, payable in rubber at the rate of 50 centimes per Iiilo- 
gram Each man therefore has to supply 1 kilogram per month. The tax 
therefore amounts to 720 francs per annum, for which they receive 720 francs 
m trade goods as remuneration. The natives work from twenty to as much as 
tweuty-five days in the forest collecting the tax. 

" It takes them eight days to get from their town to that part of the forest 
where the rubber grows. The distance which they cover in the eight days must 
•be nearly 300 miles. They tell me that they very often exhaust their supply of 
food, in which case they are either obliged to go without or beg from some 
village in the neighborhood, to whom they give payment in the bows and arrows 

" The village is divided into 40 ' chefs de groupe ' of 3 men each, 1 of each 
•chef de groupe' beiug responsible for the delivery of the tax at N'celenge 
(30 miles distant) on the market day (the thirtieth day). 

" I arrived in this village in time to see the arrangements .that were made 
for taking the rubber to the market of N'celenge. The capita and his retinue 
summoned the people to bring their rubber by blowing a horn. The tax gath- 
erers assembled at his comiiound with the rubber, where it was counted, and a 
representative of each ' chef de groupe ' was chosen. On the following morning 
they set out for N'celenge, accompanied by the capita. 

" I then proceeded to the state post at M'bongo. The officer in charge had 
unfortunately left two days before my arrival, so that I had no opportunity of 
obtaining information as to the distances the natives went to gather rubber. 

" The post had formerly been a very large one, but now shows signs of having 
been neglected. 

" I was informed by my interpreters, one of whom was a native of the village 
of N'gongo, and the other who had made a journey through this country some 
two or three years previously, that this town of M'bongo was once very large. 
All that remains to-day is a population of perhaps 20 people, living in a state of 
fdth it is difRcult to describe. 

" I returned to the lake via N'gongo to M'bali, an old state post on the lake. 

" This town, or group of towns, comprises 60 adult men. Their individual tax 
to the State is 1 kilogram 200 grams of rubber per month. These people are 
obliged to go to the district in close proximity to the state instruction camp at 
Irebu on the main Kongo River to find rubber. The people state that it takes 
them seven days' walk to get into the rubber forest and six days' actual work 
in the forest to make their tax. 

" This is the more significant seeing that upon examination of their tax paper 
I found that the average amount of rubber they had supplied to the State as 
a tax in the first half-year of 1907, viz, from January to May, inclusive, averaged 
25 kilograms per month, whereas the amount they should have supplied was 
nearly 60 kilograms per month. This bears out the statement that it is im- 
possible to make the amount required in a month. 

" The villagers complained that they receive no pay for their work, and 
seeing that they are paid in cloth at lid. per yard, or salt at Is. lid. per kilo- 
gram, at the rate of 50 centimes per kilogram of rubber, it was impossible that 
they could have received more than a very small payment. The capita told 
me that he had been often beaten and imprisoned for shortage in supplies. 

" The rubber on the west side of the lake is practically worked out, and that 
which remains is scattered over the country which is at a distance of from 
25 to 30 miles from the Kongo River. 

"I left M'bali and proceeded to the country at the extreme northeast and 
northwest of the lake, visiting Lukanga, Lomi. and Bolia on its banks, and 
from Lomi I went overland to Bolia, passing through the largest and most 
important town I have seen in the Kongo Free State, viz, Ibeke. 

"At Lukanga and its surrounding villages there are 33 'chefs de groupe,' 
that is, 99 men, and the tax is 99 kilograms of rubber per month, or 1 kilogram 
per man monthly. 

"The capita, who is an old employee of the State, stated that the people of 
this village went to Irebu and Lake Mantumba for their rubber. 

"The men were absent when I arrived at the village, and the capita said 
they bad been gone seven days when I arrived, and he further informed me that 
the taxes here were payable every fifteen days, and that the people went out for 
ten or twelve days twice monthly. I afterwards found out that the reason of 
this double tax was that they never brought sufficient in the first ten or twelve 
days, and consequently it took them a further ten or twelve days to make up 
arrears. 



140 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

"According to their tax paper, they only supplied 596 kilograms of rubber 
during the whole of the year 1906, which would go to prove that the present 
tax is excessive. 

" At Lomi the chief told nie that he had about 40 men, and their tax papers 
showed the number as 45, viz, 15 ' chefs de groupe ' of 3 men each. Their tax 
was 45 kilograms per month. 

" The village, he told me, was divided into two parts, taking their rubber 
alternately to the post every fifteen days. The people go to the borders of Lake 
Mantumba for the rubber and spend a great part of their time in the forest. 

" They say they receive no pay, and the chief tells me that he was recently 
imprisoned at Bolia for six weeks. 

"At Boliabompeti there were 30 workingmen, i. e., 10 ' chefs de groupe,' who 
should supply 30 kilograms of rubber per month. They stated that there was 
very little rubber in their district, and that they had to go to the Lake Man- 
tumba country to find it. They spend from twenty to twenty-two days in the 
forest. 

" I was informed that 3 men had been imprisoned two weeks before my 
arrival, but had been released shortly afterwards. 

" They complained that they received little or no payment. Upon examination 
of their tax papers I found that they had only supplied a fraction over 43 kilo- 
grams of rubber in the first six months of this year, i. e., from January to 
June, inclusively, whereas they should have supplied 180 kilograms, or 30 kilo- 
grams monthly. 

" Upon my arrival at Botuale, the next village, there was not a person in the 
village. It appeared to be quite new, and in two huts there were fires still 
burning. Soon after my arrival an old woman appeared, who told me that the 
chief would return to the village on the following day. 

" The men, with the exception of the chief and capita, and 2 others, who 
had gone to the next town of Ibeke to deliver their rubber, were in the forest 
collecting their tax. 

" The chief arrived in the night, and a few more women gradually returned 
to the town from their hiding places in the bush when they found that there 
was no danger. 

" The town consisted of 10 workingmen, a few women, and only 2 children, 
one a boy of about 12 years and the other a girl of 4 or 5 years. 

" The capita had no tax paper, as he told me that they were under the chief 
of the village of Ibeke. 

" Their tax was 1 kilogram of rubber per head. 

" On the following day 2 men returned from taking their rubber to Bolia, 
about 35 miles distant. They had taken 15 strings, about 22 kilograms 400 
grams, and had received in remuneration 1 yard of blue baft cotton cloth. They 
told me that their tax had been complete, and that the state officer had ordered 
them to return with more rubber in ten days' time. 

" They told me that they spent the greater part of their time in the forest 
surrounding Lake Mantumba, and complained of the hardships of travel and 
work in the forest, which, for the greater part of the year, was under water. 

" I then went to Ibeke, the largest and most influential village in all the lake 
district. 

"The village, together with small outlying villages, contains 981 adult men, 
divided into 327 'chefs de groupe,' and they supply 3 kilograms of rubber per 
group, i. e., 1 kilogram per head, or 981 kilograms per month. 

" The capita of this town, who is a son of the Chief Uauga, is also responsi- 
ble for a further group of villages containing 135 men, who likewise supply 1 
kilogram of rubber per head per month. 

"According to tax papers in possession of the capita of Ibeke village, the 
natives h;id only supplied 4 tons 412 kilogi-ams of rubber for the first six 
months of this year (1907), instead of 5 tons 986 kilograms, the amount 
assessed. 

" The chief, capita, and people were unanimous in declaring that they, the 
rubber gatherers, spent only four days per month in their village, the re- 
mainder of their time being spent in the forest making rubber. 

"In confirmation of this, I repeit a statement made to me some days after 
havmg visited these towns by a native employee of the post of Bolia. This 
man appeared, from his statements, to be a messenger of the post, his duty 
bemg to carry letters for the state officers at Bolia to the state post at Bikoro, 
on Lake Mantumba, and also on rare ocrapio-is to Coquilhatville. I ques- 
tioned him as to the distances between Bolia to Bikoro and Coquilhatville, 



APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 141 

which, he said, were three and six days, respectively. The 'chef de poste ' 
at Bolia told me he thought it would take eight days to go from Bolia to 
Bikoro. 

" The messenger told me that to make the aforementioned journey in three 
days required forced marches, and that the rubber gatherers would^take four 
or five days. The roads, he said, were inundated with water at nearly all 
times of the year. In reply to inquiries as to the time the rubber gatherers 
spent in the forest collecting their tax, he informed me that they spent from 
ten to fifteen days actually in the forest. In explaining the hardships of their 
work, he also told me that they very often exhausted their food supplies before 
their tax was complete, in which case they went to Ikoko, an American mission 
station and native village on Lake Mantumba, to purchase food, and for 
which they had to pay very dearly to the natives. Having made inquiries from 
the mission at Ikoko, I obtained confirmation of this statement. 

" Between Ibeke and Bolia there is a series of small villages, and these, to- 
gether with the other villages which I did not visit, form what is called' the 
'chefferie' of Bolia. This group contains 1,695 workingmen, who are taxed 
600 grams of rubber per head per mouth, i. e., 1 ton 17 kilograms per mouth. 

" This part of the country seems to be still fairly thickly populated, and the 
state census for the Bolia ' chefferie ' for this year estimates the number of 
women and children at 4,030. 

" I spoke with the capita of Ibenga, who told me of the imprisonment of his 
people, as reported in the previous pages of this report. He informs me that 
the distance from his village to the rubber forest was only two or three days, 
which proves that the task of these people is far easier than that of any village 
I visited. 

" When I returned to Inogongo I had an interview with the ' commissaire de 
district,' and he asked me if I had heard of any abuses committed against 
the natives. I informed him that I had heard of only one case in which a 
native had been killed by a sentry in the village of Bokoki. My informant 
insinuated that the ' chef de poste ' at M'bongo had heard of the matter and 
inquired into it as soon as it had happened, and had tacitly agreed not to 
report it so long as he made the people work. I did not tell this to the ' com- 
missaire de district,' as when he asked me the question quoted above the 
matter had entirely escaped my mind, and as he read me a dispatch on the 
subject from the ' chef de poste ' at M'bongo, which he seemed to have re- 
ceived soon after the complaint had been re])orted to me, stating that ' the 
charge was quite untrue, for the reason that he (the " chef de poste ") had never 
heard anything about it' My informant might have been charged with ma- 
liciously calumniating a state ofiicer, in which he would have been seriously 
handicapped, seeing that the ' commissaire de district ' had ordered the ' chef 
de poste ' himself to immediately constitute an inquiry — he being an officer 
of the judicial police — pointing out to him that ' his not having heard of the 
matter was no reason in support of his view that such an act had not been 
committed.' 

" I then mentioned to him the conclusion I had formed as to the taxation, 
saying that the people worked from twenty to twenty-five days per month. 
He stated that he had received similar complaints of a sufficiently serious 
nature as to have inspired him to write to the ' inspecteur ' suggesting a re- 
vision in the tax with regard to its application, being so modified as to conform 
with the fundiimental principle of forty hours' labor per mouth. 

" There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the average mouth's 
work of every native is not less than twenty days. 

" Mr. Murdoch, in his article which appears in the weekly edition of the 
'Times' of the 1st November, states that the natives are required to bring 
in 15 strips of rubber each. According to their tax-papers this is not the case, 
as 15 strips of rubber would weigh, as Mr. Murdoch says, in giving the weight 
of a strip he purchased and which I saw weighed. 2 kilograms 550 grams, 
whereas the individual tax is not calculated at more than 1 kilogram 200 grams 
anywhere as far as I know. Tl^e natives brought each 30 strips, he says, which 
being the case they brought more than their tax. These people were evidently 
from the village of N'gongo, as this was the only village which supplied more 
than they were actually obliged to. . , . x, 

" He refers to the 30 strips of rubber being the work of two men, m which 
oase their statements to him did not coincide with what they told me or with 
the conditions of the tax-paper— which divided the village into ' chefs de groupe 
of three men— so that 30 strips of rubber represented the work of three men 



142 AFPAIBS IN THE KONGO. 

and not two And even this would be more than the amount of their tax, as 
7i strips equal, roughly speaking, 1 kilogram 200 grams. I also purchased a 
strip of rubber which, when weighed two months afterwards at Leopoldville, 
contained 170 grams. , . ^ ^.^ ^. 

"This is a discrepancy of small moment, smce the importance of the tax, 
whether it is of 1 kilogram or 10, rests upon the time taken to produce that 
amount. I accept absolutely the statements of Mr. Murdoch and the natives 
as to the distances the natives cover to obtain the amount of their tax. 

" The people in the Yambata district complained that they spent the greater 
part of their time in the forest, and as their tax was 3 kilograms of rubber per 
mouth, as compared with the amount of 1 kilogram 200 grams imposed in the 
Lake Leopold II district, it would appear that the amount of the tax was fixed 
more with a view to obtain as much rubber as possible than to adhere to the 
law of forty hours' labor. 

" The native is remunerated at the rate of 50 centimes per kilogram for the 
rubber he produces, and despite their statements to the contrary, the tax papers 
show that they receive this amount, and I believe they are paid, with the 
exception of one or two rare instances, and these are not paid probably by 
reason of their continual failure to adequately fulfill their obligation, which is 
in almost every case impossible. 

" The following is an estimate of the profits of the State on their rubber tax. 
I take the village of N'gongo as being a large one, and one of the few villages 
that supply the amount actually assessed : 

Amount assessed yearly, 1,440 kilograms of rubber. 

f s. d. 

1,440 kilograms of rubber at 10 francs__ 576 

Amount paid to natives at 50 centimes per kilogram 28 16 

" I calculate the rubber at 10 francs per kilogram, the value placed upon it 
by the State in the commercial report issued this year. The market value in 
Antwerp is from 12 to 13 francs per kilogram. From this amount of £576 
must be deducted the cost of transport, which can not be more than 2 francs 
per kilograms rendered at Antwerp, so that the net profits derived from this 
one village would be a little more than £456 per annum. One hundred and 
twenty natives, together with their wives and children, which would bring 
the population of the town to about 400 souls, share this amount of £28 16s.. 
and as this is paid in cloth at 7M. per yard and salt at Is. 7*d. per kilogram, it 
is evident that they can not receive very much each, and that they complain of 
their remuneration. The cost of administration I have, of course, not taken into 
account. I hear on good authority that the cost of administration increases 
the value of the rubber to the State to not more than 1 franc per kilogram. The 
St;;te could thereofore well afford to be more generous in the respect of remuner- 
ation, seeing that nothing whatever is spent on the development of the country 
for the good of the natives. Even the State capita receives no wage, and, as I 
ha\ e said, participates in the remuneration given to the workmen." 

The interesting and valuable account given by Mr. Smith, the United States 
consul-general at Boma, in his report to his Government, bears testimony to 
the fact that little or nothing has been done to relieve the native of the burden 
of the rubber tax. He says : 

"At Yambata the opportunity for which I had been seeking, namely, to prove 
by a practical test the assertions of the natives as to the time necessary to 
gather 3 kilograms of rubber, presented itself. It was claimed by all the state 
agents whom I had questioned upon the subject that the tax was not excessive, 
it being easily possible to gather the amount of the impost within the forty 
hours monthly prescribed by the law as the maximum of time the native must 
labor to fulfill his obligations to the State. It was contended that the native 
idled his time away in the forest in the search of game ; that, in substance, he 
did not apply himself to his task. The 'chef de secteur ' at Yambata was 
apparently so certain of this that I requested permission to take a number of 
natives into the forest, set them at work gathering rubber for a given time, 
and thus prove to my own satisfaction whether their complaints were or were 
not reasonable and just. The ' chef de secteur ' willingly consented, apparently 
confident, from the state's standpoint, of the successful result. Accordingly 
five natives were chosen from one of the villages and placed in charge of one 
of the state capitas. It was arranged that these five men should work for four 
hours each, or a total of twenty hours' work, in which time, to correspond to 
the tax imposed and the maximum of forty hours, they were supposed to pro- 



APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 143 

duce li kilograms (1,500 grams) of rubber. The place selected for carrying 
out this experiment was at one hour's march through the forest from the post 
and was chosen by the ' chef de secteur ' as being especially rich in rubber vines' 
The men also were of his own choosing. I had nothing to do with this part 
of it. Arriving on the spot, two of the men were put at work under the sur- 
veillance of Mr. Memminger and Mr. Dodds, the other three under the ' chef 
de secteur ' and myself. All the men had been promised an adequate remunera- 
tion and exemption from their taxes for the following month by the 'chef de 
secteur ' as an incentive, and certainly not a slight one, to do their best. I 
can testify to the fact that these men did not lose a minute from the time we 
conmienced work until the expiration of the four hours. The vines were numer- 
ous, and but little time was taken up in the search for another when one had 
been exhausted. The rubber was delivered to me and carefully weighed upon 
my return to the post, with the following result : 

Grams. 

Two men gathered each 200 grams 400 

The other three 250 

Total weight 650 

"An analysis of the result works out as follows: 

"Collectively: Twenty hours' labor should have produced 1,500 grams. 
Twenty hours' labor actually produced 650 grams, or 43 per cent of tax im- 
posed. To gather the quantity required, these men would have been obliged to 
work an average of ninety-three hours each per month, or eleven days five 
hours at eight hours per day — one hundred and forty days each year. 

" Individually : Four hours' labor should have produced 300 grams. Two 
men actually produced in this time each 200 grams, or 661 per cent, of tax 
imposed. To gather the quantity required these men would be obliged to work 
an aver.Tge of sixty hours each per month, or seven and a half days, ninety 
days each year. 

"And again: Four hours' labor should have produced 300 grams. Three men 
actually produced in this time an average of only 83J grams, or about 28 per 
cent of tax. To gather the quantity required, these men would l»e obliged to 
work an average of one hundred and forty-four hours each month, or eighteen 
days, two hundred and sixteen days each year. 

" In considering the above, it must further be borne in mind that the time 
necessarily occupied in reaching the locality and returning is not calculated. 
This would, of course, relatively reduce the amount gathered within the given 
time, and increase the average time necessary to produce the quota demanded 
by the State. It "must also be remembered that the element of chance enters 
largely into the question ; the two men who secured 200 grams each were 
fortunate in finding large vines immediately after entering the forest; the other 
three w^ere not, and although they worked fully as hard, only succeeded in 
securing 834 grams each. If, to be perfectly fair, we accept the average time 
employed by the five men as a basis, and add thereto eight days each mouth 
for the time necessary to reach the place and return (eight days is not excessive 
as an average of the time thus employed), we find that these men must labor 
nineteen days and five hours each month, or practically two hundred and thirty- 
six days each year. During the month, if they produce 3 kilograms of rubber, 
it is worth, according to the latest market value at Antwerp, 12 francs 50 
centimes per kilogram, or 37 francs 50 centimes. They receive for this a machete, 
upon which the State places a valuation of 1 franc 10 centimes, and a small 
handful of salt. I purchased at Leopoldville from an English trader two of 
the same machetes for 50 centimes each." 

His Majesty's Government have carefully examined the other forms of taxa- 
tion, such as porterage, paddling, etc., and the evidence all tends to show that 
little or no amelioration has been effected as regards the burden which those 
taxes impose upon the native. 

CONCLUSION. 

One can not rise from the examination of the subject of taxation, which has 
been dealt with in the foregoing pages at great length, though by no means 
exhaustively, without gaining the conviction that the remedies suggested by the 
commission of inqury, and ostensibly adopted by the Kongo government when 
they published the reform decrees, have failed to introduce that large measure 
of reform so urgently needed in the interests of the native population. 



144 AFFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 

Whatever improvements may have, and no doubt have, been effected in certain 
directions, the reform decrees have, according to all accounts, afforded the 
native but little, if any, relief in matters of taxation. We have seen that the 
tax in chickwan'gue and, above all, rubber, weighs as oppressively as ever upon 
the people of the Kongo, and this in spite of all the solemn assurances and 
explicit declarations made by the secretaries-general in their report to the 
King-Sovereign when submitting the new decrees for His Majesty's approval. 

As was pointed out at the commencement of this discussion, the real solution 
of "the question of taxation is to be found in the introduction of currency. It is a 
fact which can not be too much emphasized that without a proper circulating 
medium the door is as wide open to abuses as it was before the issue of the 
reform decrees. 

The decree " impositions directes et personelles " adopts in theory a mone- 
tary and a time basis. The native is given the right to pay his taxes in 
money, but since as a rule he possesses no coin, the practical effect of the decree 
is this, that in those parts, chiefly rubber districts, where the products of the 
soil are the property of the State or the companies in virtue of the ownership 
of the land, the native is assessed on a time basis at the rate of forty hours a 
month, and in those districts where the native is taxed in produce, of which he 
is recognized to be the owner, such as chickwangue, etc., he is assessed on tlie 
monetary basis at a rate varying from a minimum of 6 francs to a maximum 
of 24 francs a year. 

Now, to regulate taxation on a monetary or time basis, and to pretend to 
remedy this absence of a proper standard of value by adopting tables of equiva- 
lents is a mere blind, and can only deceive the uninitiated. 

When the tax is measured by time equivalents the result is much the same. 
Assuming that a tax in labor is justifiable, forty hours a month may not seem 
excessive, but in point of fact the State has never exacted a bona fide time tax, 
but produce measured against time. To assume that a kilogram of chick- 
wangue or of rubber represents either ten or one hundred hours' labor must be 
a purely arbitrary assessment. It may be less than one or more than the 
other, depending on conditions. It has been seen in the foregoing pages how 
largely chance enters into the question. Therefore, in practice, the evidence 
goes to show that it is very often impossible to arrive at any conclusion as to 
the monetary or time basis on which the tax in any district is fixed, as even, 
according to Mr. Thesiger, the statements of the local officials in the same 
district do not correspond. 

In both cases, however, it has been proved time and again that the amount 
due. however valued, is invariably exceeded, and it seems to be indeed limited 
only by the needs of the State or the working capacity of the natives. 

Let us take a few concrete instances. 

Around Leopoldville. as we have seen, the tax is paid in chickwangue. The 
tax imposed is 24 francs, and its equivalent in kind is estimated at 400 kilograms 
of chickwangue per head per annum. As regards the time and labor neces- 
sary to produce these 400 kilograms the reports of Yice-Consul Armstrong and 
the missionaries all agree that each woman has practically to work inces- 
santly twelve months in the year. What does this mean? Incessant labor is 
valued at 24 francs a year, and must be rendered as a tax. 

The following is taken from Mr. Thesiger's report: 

" In the Lake Leopold II district, visited by Mr. Armstrong, the time occupied 
in collecting the rubber appears to be also twenty to twenty-five days. The 
rubber in the district west of the lake is practically worked out, which accounts 
for the average tax levied per man being only 1 kilogram per month. The 
state officials in this district evidently make some capital out of the reduction 
of the amount of rubber collected at present as compared with what was for- 
merly brought in, and talk of the strict observance of the law of forty hours' 
labor. Mr. Armstrong's report shows how utterly fallacious this argument is. 
At Nioki it was claimed that the natives formerly made 4 tons per month, but 
that this had now been reduced to 1 ton 200 kilograms per month, while at 
M'bali, where the tax is 60 kilograms per month, the average amount accepted 
was 25 kilograms. Mr. Armstrong visited the latter place, and reports that the 
natives, owing to the exhaustion of the rubber, have to walk seven days to get 
to the vine-bearing forest, where they take six days to gather the "required 
amount. 

"Thus explained, the reduction amounts to nothing more than that, owing to 
the rubber vines being worked out in certain districts, a smaller quantity must 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 145 

necessarily be accepted, but to gather it the native must worlv for the same or 
a longer period than before when the vines were near at hand and plentiful, 
receiving for the same number of days a lesser remuneration. 

"As I have already said, the regulation of this tax on a monetary or time 
basis is a mere farce, the only limits being fixed by the fertility of any ijiven 
area, and the collecting capacity of the native. In the rich Bengala district, 
visited by Mr. Smith, where rubber is plentiful, the tax is 3 kilograms per 
month ; in the worked-out region near Lake Leopold II, where rubber is scarce, 
it is 1 kilogram. In both instances the tax is assessed at forty hours' labor per 
month, and the natives work twenty to twenty-five days out of every thirty. 

"A few examples of this may be quoted from Mr. Armstrong's report : 

" 'At M'pili, numbering 10 adults, the tax is 1 kologram per man monthly. 
Time spent in the forest, twenty days. At N'gougo, 120 adult men, tax 1 kilo- 
gram per month ; here they have to go eight days' journey to the forest, and it 
takes them in all twenty to twenty-five days to collect the rubber. At Lukanga 
and surrounding villages there are 99 men ; tax, 1 kilogram per month. 

" ' Here the rubber is collected twice monthly, and the people are out for two 
periods of from ten to twelve days each month. 

" ' Other instances might be given, but I think these are sufficient to show 
that a reduction of the amount of rubber to be handed in every month does not 
mean any diminution of the tax, but can usually be attributed to the growing 
scarcitiy of the rubber itself, and that the nominal forty hours' labor means in- 
cessant work and privation for twenty to twenty-five days each month.' " 

Again, Mr. Thesiger says : 

" Forced labor, such as this, differs only in name from slavery, and by it the 
administration are enabled to feed their workmen at a merely nominal rate 
instead of having to buy chickwangue on the open market, or of importing rice 
at a considerable cost to the State. A solution of this question would be the 
payment to the state workmen of what is known here as ' chop money,' namely, 
a weekly sum for food, which each man then provides for himself. By this 
means the supply of local produce would be encouraged, the native producer 
would get a fair price, while the cost to the State would be small. It would, 
however, mean the introduction of a system of payment to the workmen in coin, 
and indirectly facilities the payment of the taxes in money — two things which 
the administration have no wish to introduce into the Upper Kongo. 

" Mr. Armstrong's report of the 17th December, 1907, shows that in the 
Lake Leopold II district the price paid for the chickwangue is 4 centimes a 
kilogram, mentioning especially Moleke, where the village has to supply 50 
bunches of chickwangue and 50 bunches of fish weekly, and the natives complain 
' that they recei\e ])ractically nothing for their tax, which occupies the greater 
portion of their day's work.' At N'celenge the tax is 200 chickwaugues and 
200 fish daily, and "each woman having to deposit 5 chickwaugues, weighing 
about half a kilogram each, every morning on the beach, and this amount has 
to be taken across the lake to Inongo every day. Here, again, Mr. Armstrong 
notes that they complained 'only of the remuneration nnd not of the endless 
work imposed upon them.' 

"These cases bear out what I have said in the introduction to this memoran- 
dum as to the tax being limited only by the needs of the State on the working 
capacity of the native, as round Leopoldville. where the soil is poor, 400 
kilograms a year is about the limit each woman can produce, while in the more 
productive forest land the quantity is about doubled and the remuneration de- 
creased, so that the nominal money value of the tax remains unchanged." 

Here of course, we again strike at the root of the matter— currency— the 
introduction of which on a large scale, coupled with a freedom of trade, would 
almost infallibly deal a deathblow to the prosperity of the State, the con- 
cessionary companies, and their rubber monopolies. 

Now, to take an instance of the rubber tax assessed on a time basis, the 
experiment made by the American consul-general at Yambata, with the assist- 
ance of the state agent, affords the best exnmple. The result, as has been seen, 
showed that under'^the most favorable conditions it would take eighteen days 
a month or two hundred and sixteen days a year, to collect the amount imposed 
as a tax, equivalent to forty hours' work a month, and this without any allow- 
ance made for the time occupied in going to and returning from the rubber 

According to most accounts the native is said to spend at least twenty days m 
the forest, without reckoning the time necessary to go and return. Here we 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 10 



146 AFFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 

have again practically incessant labor rendered to the State in tlie guise of a 
forty hours a month labor tax. _ , ^ , ., . ., 

There is no need to further multiply instances m order to show that the 
condition of the natives of the Kongo is still one of veiled slavery, notwith- 
standing the assurances given by the secretaries-general in their report to 
the King-Sovereign and of the reform decrees. 

It is impossible to escape the susi^icion that, while pretending to introduce 
real measures of reform by the decrees of the 3d June, 1906, every effort was 
made to render those decrees illusory and to perpetuate the system of bondage 
and slavery in order to swell the profits of the monopoly system. 

The interpretation, already quoted, which was placed on the decrees " Frappe 
et Mounaie " and " Impositions Directes et Personnelles " by Vice-Governor 
Lantonnois, in his instructions of the 8th September, 1906, to the local authori- 
ties, clearly indicates that no real change was intended. 

As regards the right of the native to pay the tax in money granted by the new 
decree, Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Thesiger have reported instances in which the 
payment of taxes in money has actually been refused by the state authorities. 

it seems tolerably clear that the reform decrees concerning taxation have 
been rendered entirely nugatory in their effect, owing to the determined 
resistance which the State offers to the introduction of currency. The igno- 
rance of the use of money on the part of the natives, which the Kongo govern- 
ment have always alleged as the chief difBculty in the way of a circulating 
medium, has been practically disproved by the statements of the commission 
of inquiry, by the actual experience of Mr. Vice-Consul Michell in the Lomami 
Company's territory, by the system of " croisettes " adopted in the Kasai Com- 
pany's territory, and finally by the fact that money circulates freely among 
the natives on the lower Kongo. 

There is a point upon which His Majesty's Government wish, in conclusion, 
to lay particular emphasis. It is that the taxes in labor which have in the 
past beeen exacted from the natives by the concessionary companies have been 
largely devoted not to objects of public utility, but to the furtherance of 
private interests. The amount of labor which has been, and in a certain 
measure still is, devoted to those ends can, in the opinion of His Majesty's 
Government, only be expressed in unqualified terms as slavery pure and 
simple. 

His Majesty's Government disclaim all right to prescribe to the Kongo 
government any particular system of taxation, but they hold that the one 
now actually in existence must be so modified as to insure its operating hi 
harmony with, and not in defiance of, the provisions of Article VI of the 
Berlin act. 



No. 3. 

Memorandum communicated Ijij the Belgian Minister. 

[Translation.] 

In the memorandum which Sir A. Hardinge left at the minstry of foreign 
affairs on the 30th of March, 190S, the Government of His Britannic Majesty, 
without wishing to lay down definitely what reforms should be introduced in 
the Kongo, which would not, as they admit themselves, come within their 
province, gave expression to the hoyte that, after the annexation of the country. 
Belgium would introduce ameliorations into the lot of the natives by refraining 
from loading them with excessive taxts, by granting them enough land to permii 
of their trading in its products, and by allowing them to enter into direct rela- 
tions with foreign merchants, who would themselves be authorized to acquire 
real property in all itarts of the future colony. 

The Government of the King are happy to take act of the assurance given bv 
the Government of His Britannic Majesty "to abstain from any act which 
might be construed as interfering with the complete liberty of action of the 
Belgian Government in the future management of the internal affairs of the 
Kongo." This assurance is in complete harmony with the unanimous senti- 
ment of the Belgian Government and chambers that they should have full 
liberty of action in the question of the annexation of the Kongo, and that it 
should be settled by them in the fullness of their internal sovereign rights. 

On their side the Government of His Britannic Maiesty have without doubt 
followed the deliberations of the commission of seventeen, nominated by the 
Chamber of Representatives in order to study the proposed systems of colonial 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 147 

administration, and tliey will not have "failed to recognize tlie importance which 
the Belgian Government attach to retaining full control over the affairs of the 
Kongo when it shall have become a colony. 

In this connection, the draft colonial law submitted to Parliament can stand 
comparison with the systems under which other colonies are governed. 

It is true that under the provisions of this law the executive possesses the 
right of decreeing legal measures, but it must be remembered that Parliament 
reserves to itself the right of actual legislation and that its decisions have to 
prevail. If it is impossible fis yet to state definitely and in detail the measures 
to be introduced, it is beyond doubt that they will be inspired by the most 
generous sentiments. 

The question of improving the lot of the natives is not less a matter of 
solicitude in Belgium than it is in England. It is one of the loftiest pre- 
occupations of our country, which is fully sensible of the importance of the 
civilizing mission which falls to its lot in Africa. Already the Government of 
the King, faithfully interpreting the national sentiment, have taken the oppor- 
tunty of defining publicly in Parliament the task which they intend to carry 
out in the Kongo. The prime minister ("chef du cabinet") stated recently 
in the Senate that, while waiting for the moment when it would be possible 
to make the employment of currency — the use of which is already beginning 
to be understood by the natives — general among them, the State would see 
that taxation was reduced and manual labor fairly recompensed, and that it 
would seek to introduce an improved method of cultivation into all parts of 
the territory and to establish the negroes, who are still in part nomadic, on 
soil which would belong to them and on which they could found permanent 
homes. He added that their aptitude for commerce would be developed, and 
that they would be furnished with means of exercising it by numerous facilities 
for intercourse with those who bring them the benefits of civilization. 

These statements were confirmed by the prime minister himself and by the 
minister for foreign affairs in the speeches delivered by them on the 15th of 
April in the Chamber of Representatives. 

M. Scholia ert, notably, referring to what he had said in the Senate, expressed 
himself in the following terms : 

" Having abolished trial by the ordeal of poison, and having suppressed the 
slave trade and cannibalism, we must endeavor to secure greater comfort for 
the native population ; we must extend and make general the use of currency ; 
we must aim at securing the payment of taxes in money; we must direct our 
efforts toward doing away with forced labor; we must continue the efforts 
which have already been made to diminish the amount of labor exacted from 
the natives, especially in connection with porterage; we must increase the 
property of the natives by granting them very large and very generous conces- 
sions of land; we must secure to them sufficiently numerous facilities for 
obtaining a good and prompt system of justice, administered in a spirit of 
integrity, impartiality, enlightenment, und independence." 

As far as the taxation of the natives is concerned, the Government of the 
King consider that the amount should be proportioned to the circumstances of 
the taxpayer, so as to remain moderate. They also consider that the labor 
tax which would be required from natives unable to pay their- taxes in money — 
a form of tax payment, the legality of which is recognized by the statement 
annexed to the memorandum— is only a temporary and provisional measure 
which is destined gradually to disappear pari passu with the introduction of 
currency, which, as the prime minister has already announced, the Government 
of the King have decided to promote with all their might. This means that 
forced labor— if by that is understood the payment of taxes in that form— will 
only be maintained in the Kongo sub.iect to the same limits and the conditions 
of necessity in which it exists in the colonies of other nations. 

In any case the principle of individual liberty laid down in the draft colonial 
law is free from any further restrictions whatsoever; the natives can not be 
forced, either directly or indirectly, with or without payment, to furnish their 
labor to concessionary companies any more than to any other private enter- 
prise; labor can only be voluntary, and on terms of payment agreed upon 
without the exercise of any pressure. ,, . ^ ^ +v,« 

As soon as the Government of His Britannic Majesty were aware of the 
language held by MM. SchoUaert and Davignon, they were able to convince 
themselves that from the moment that the Government of the King decided to 
lay before the chambers the annexation project they were firmly resolved to 
spare no sacrifice for the purpose of attainmg the end which they have set 



148 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

before themselves, an end whicli bas for its object the civilization of the Kongo, 
and which tends to develop the morality of the primitive races inhabiting that 
country, as vi^ell as to transform the material conditions of their existence. 

The weight and scope of these repeated declarations before the chambers can 
not fail to be appreciated abroad. 

Is it necessary to add that the Government of the King will set about putting 
them in practice as soon as the transfer is completed"? It is only after annexa- 
tion has taken place that they will exercise over the administration of the 
State the control and the powers determined by the colonial law, which will 
permit them to draw up, with the necessary diligence and in the spirit already 
referred to, the reforms which the situation renders opportune or indispensable. 
It is certain, as has been said above, that the support of public opinion and the 
cooperation of Parliament, whose powers of intervention will be regulated by 
the colonial law, will not fail the Government when they commence to follow 
the path which they have traced out for themselves. 

The desire to secure the protection of the negroes is the principal end of the 
humanitarian preoccupations of His Britannic Majesty's Government, but to this 
they also add the desire to see guaranteed in the Kongo freedom of commerce, 
one of the objects of the Berlin act. 

Faithful, according to her invariable custom, in the observance of the treaties 
which she has signed, and fully recognizing the obligations which she has con- 
tracted at the Berlin and Brussels conferences, Belgium is firmly resolved that 
there shnll be in the Kongo the widest economic system and that the expansion 
of commerce and of industry shall be furthered in the most liberal manner, 
without distinctions being made between Belgian subjects and foreigners. 
Thus she will so act that, as has already been stated by the prime minister in 
the chambers, privjite people, to whatever nationality they may belong, will be 
able to acquire the lands necessary for the prosecution of their commerce and of 
their occupations. The government of the future colony will be regulated by 
these principles, and Belgium will see that they are loyally and fully applied. 

With regard to the existence of concessionary companies, the English memo- 
randum fears that their continuance will limit the liberty of action of the Bel- 
gian Government in the territories occupied by them. 

Under the concessionary system, which is even in force in certain portions of 
the conventional basin of the Kongo under the British Crown, the concession-, 
naires have acquired in the Free State certain vested interests. It is especially 
necessary that the foreign interests connected with these enterprises should be 
taken into account. It is, on the other hand, to be remarked that the mainte- 
nance of the companies does not exclude the possibility of fresh arrangements 
being made. 

Moreover, the acts of concession do not prevent the Government in the sphere 
of action of the companies from recognizing that the natives have very ex- 
tended rights of occupation, including the free disposal of the products of the 
soil, or from granting to Belgian and foreign traders land on which to establish 
factories. 

But before beginning her task Belgium will have to compare what she pro- 
poses to do with what has been done in those of the neighboring colonies which 
are also subject to the stipulations of the Berlin act — to examine how in those 
countries the principles there laid down are applied, and to see how the rights 
granted to companies and individuals are brought into harmony with the prac- 
tice of freedom of commerce. 

The respect which the Government of the King have always shown for the 
obligations resulting from treaties might well dispense them from answering 
the last question asked by the Government of His Britannic Majesty. The 
Belgian Government have no hesitation in recognizing that the religious, 
scientific, and charitable institutions whose field of action is the Kongo should 
enjoy equal protection without distinction of religion, as was laid down in 
the Berlin act, and that British subjects should have the benefit of all the 
advantages stipulated for in their favor by the convention concluded between 
Great Britain and the Kongo Free State prior to that diplomatic instrument. 

Such are the plans which the Government of the King will carry out when 
they assume l;ofore the world the responsibility which is involved in the ad- 
ministration of their future colonial possession. They can be summarized 
thus: An immediate amelioration in the moral and material conditions of exist- 
ence of the inhabitants of the Kongo, and the extension as rapidly as possible 
of a system of economic freedom to the different regions of that vast country 



AFFAIRS m THE KONGO. 149 

fhJ*;-nt?7in^"'"r*, ""^ ^i' Britannic Majesty, says the memorandum, had had 
the intention ot de^ianding arbitration in order to decide whether the land 
and commercial systems established in the Free State were in conformity witt 
Articles I and V of the general act of Berlin. Entertaining the hope that the 
Ei-ee State will shortly be annexed by Belgium, they have though? it prefei- 
^^1 *i? postpone any proposal m this sense and to discuss the present situation 
with the Belgian Government m the most open and friendly spirit 

The Belgian Government share this view for the reasons indicated in the 
memorandum. After having set forth the plans which thev have the intention 
of realizing when the annexation of the Kongo has taken place— an eventu-ilitv 
which can now be considered imminent— they are glad to And that their inten 
tions are so much in harmony with the wishes of the Government of His Britan 
nic Majesty as to render superfluous an arbitral decision on the question' at 
issue between the Free State and Great Britain regarding the interpretation of 
the Berlin act. 



No. 75. 

Africa. No. 4 (1908). 

Further Correspondence Resfecting the Taxation of Natives, and Other 
Questions, in the Kongo State. 

[In continuation of "Africa No. 3, 1908 : " Cd. 4135.] 

[Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty. August, 1908.] 

List of papers. 

No. 1. Sir Edward Grey to Sir A. Hardinge, June 23, 1908. 

No. 2. Memorandum communicated to the Belgian minister, June 23, 1908. 

No. 3. Sir Edward Grey to Sir A. Hardinge, July 13, 1908. 

No. 4. M. Davignon to Count de Lalaing (1 inclosure), July 12, 1908. 



No. 1. 
Sir Edivard Grey to Sir A. Hardinge. 

Foreign Office, June 23, 1908. 

Sir : I gave the Belgian minister to-day a memorandum, of which a copy is 
inclosed herewith,'^ in reply to the last note of the Belgian Government about 
the Kongo. 

In giving it I said I understood the difficulty in which the Belgian Govern- 
ment were placed with regard to stating, before the question of annexation 
was decided, the actual measures which they would talve in the Kongo. But if 
it was impossible to carry the discussion further at the present moment, the fact 
that it was not continued must not be regarded as committing us finally. 

The Belgian Government would of course, in accordance with the provision 
of the Berlin act, which was binding upon all the powers, notify us of the 
annexation, and we must reserve our liberty to discuss the actual measures 
to be applied in the Kongo by the Belgian Government before committing 
ourselves in reply to that notification. 

The Belgian minister read the memorandum, and said he would communicate 
it to his Government. 

He then asked me to be a little more explicit as to the meaning of what I' 
had said to him in giving him the memorandum. 

I repeated the substance of it, adding that we were quite ready to continue 
the discussion with the Belgian Government of the actual measures to be 
introduced into the Kongo to give effect to the treaty obligations which they 
had admitted and the intentions they had expressed. Bnt if the Belgian 
Government found it difficult to carry the matter further while annexation was 

o See No. 2. 



150 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

under discussion, we must reserve our liberty to raise more definite points 
later on. In other words, I was not prepared to announce at the present 
moment that the assurances which we had received from the Belgian Govern- 
ment were complete and should be accepted in Parliament here as having 
disposed of the whole question. 

I told Count Lalaing, however, that in my opinion the publication of the 
documents which had passed hitherto had produced a good effect here. The 
tone of the controversy had been very much ameliorated by the nature of the 
replies which the Belgian Government had given. They were on quite a differ- 
ent footing from those of the Kongo government, which had excited such strong 
feelings of indignation here. 

The Belgian minister said that the effect had been good in Belgium also. 
I am, etc., 

E. Gbey. 



No. 2. 
Memorandum communicated to the Belgian minister, June 23, 1908. 

On the 25th April the secretary of state for foreign affairs had the honor to 
receive from the Belgian minister a memorandum " on the subject of the reforms 
to be introduced into the Independent State of the Kongo in reply to a coniuiu- 
nication made to the Belgian minister for foreign affairs by His Majesty's min- 
ister in Brussels. 

From the contents of this memorandum it appears that the Belgian Govern- 
ment are resolutely determined to retain complete control over the affairs of 
the Kongo as soon as it shall have become a colony, and that the measures of 
reform which, with the sanction of Parliament, it may be necessary to introduce 
will be inspired by the most generous sentiments. The Belgian Government 
likewise declare that the question of improving the lot of the natives is one 
of great solicitude to them, and call attention to the recent speeches of the prime 
minister and the minister for foreign affairs, in which they have announced 
the intention of the Government to develop the aptitude of the natives for 
commerce, and to furnish them with the means of exercising it by affording 
them numerous facilities for intercourse with those who bring them the benefits 
of civilization. 

The Belgian Government also consider that the taxation of the natives of 
the Kongo should be on a moderate scale and in proportion to the circumstances 
of the taxpayers, and that the labor tax required from natives, who are unable 
to pay their taxes in money, is only a temporary and provisional measure, 
destined to disappear gradually with the introduction and increased circula- 
tion of currency, which they will make every effort to encourage. 

In any case, the principle of individual liberty without constraint will be 
upheld, and the natives will not be compelled, either directly or indirectly, to 
furnish labor to the concessionary companies or to any other private enterprise. 
If they do voluntarily work for a private employer, it will be at a rate of wages 
to which the laborer has consented of his own free will. 

The Belgian Government further declare that, in accordance with treaty 
obligations contracted at the conferences of Berlin and Brussels, commerce and 
industry in the Kongo shall be developed in the most advanced and liberal 
manner, and without any distinctions being made between their own subjects 
and those of other nationalities. 

With regard to the existence of concessionary companies and the question 
whether their continuance in the Kongo will in any way limit the liberty of 
action of the Belgian Government in the territories occupied by them, it is 
stated that the acts of concession to such companies are not of such a nature 
as to prevent the Government in the sphere of action of those companies from 
recognizing that the native population possesses very extended rights of occu- 
pation, together with the free disposal by them of the products of the soil. 

It is also stated that the Belgian Government will not be precluded from 
granting to foreign as well as Belgian traders sites for factories within the 
areas assigned to the concessionary companies. 

Before, however, carrying out these intentions, the Belgian Government 
will have to examine the principles applied in neighboring colonies similarly 

"See No. 3, "Africa No. 3 (1908)," p. 146. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 151 

situated and to see how freedom of commerce is there reconciled with priv- 
ileges granted to companies or private individuals 

Further, the Belgian Government declare that they have no hesitation in 
recognizmg that the religious, scientific, and charitable institutions in the 
Kongo shall enjoy equal protection without distinction of religion as laid down 
in the Berlin act, and that British subjects shall have the benefit of all the 
advantages stipulated for in their favor by the convention concluded between 
Great Britain and the Kongo Free State prior to the signature of that diulo- 
matic instrument. ^ 

His Majesty's Government have taken note with the liveliest satisfaction of 
the assurances which have now been given to them of the intentions of the 
Belgian Government, in the future administration of the Kongo to obtain 
an iliimediate improvement in the moral and material conditions of exist- 
ence of the natives and as rapid an extension as possible of a system of eco- 
nomic liberty in the different portions of this vast territory, and they have 
learned with much pleasure that the Belgian Government consider their inter- 
pretation of the commercial clauses of the Berlin act to be so far in con- 
formity with the views of His Majesty's Government as to render unnecessary 
any recourse to arbitration on the subject. 

His Majesty's Government also take note of the opinion of the Belgian 
Government to the effect that it is only after the annexation of the Kongo 
territories that they will be in a position to decide, without undue delay, upon 
the reforms rendered indispensable by the local situation. 

His Majesty's Government have considered the advisability of asking that 
some engagement should be given on the part of the Belgian Government as 
to the total abolition of a labor tax in any form within a fixed period, and 
that all purely commercial questions arising out of the treaty obligations of 
the Kongo State should, if the two Governments failed to arrive at an agree- 
ment respecting them, be referred to arbitration. 

His Majesty's Government are informed that a suggestion to this effect was 
made in the course of an informal conversation to the Belgian minister for 
foreign affairs by His Majesty's minister at Brussels, and that a memorandum 
on the subject h; s been presented to his excellency on behalf of the Govern- 
ment of the United States. 

They recognize, after a full consideration of the memorandum presented on 
the 25th April by Count de Lalaing, the difficulty of insisting upon the total 
abolition at a definite date of a labor lax in any form, and they do Pot desire 
to press for the fixing of such a date provided the measures necessary for 
remedying the abuses which still exist in the Kongo State, more especially in 
respect of the treatment of the natives, are taken without delay, and that 
existing or future concessions are interpreted in such a way as to recognize 
the extended rights of occupation of the native population and their freedom 
to dispose of the natural products of the soil already referred to. 

They would, however, welcome a formal assurance that the Belgian Govern- 
ment will not refuse, if invited by them to do so, to refer in the last resort to 
arbitration any differences of view as to the meaning of those articles in the 
treaties binding the Kongo State which bear on commercial questions, should 
an agreement between the two Governments respecting them be unattainable 
by ordinary diplomatic methods. 

Throughout the whole course of the negotiations on the subject of the Kongo 
His Majesty's Government have been animated by the most friendly sentiments 
toward the Belgian Government and people, with whom they are united by so 
many ties. Confident that their sentiments of friendship are reciprocated by 
the Belgian Government, His Majesty's Government, as a neighbor in Africa 
of the government of the Kongo, and having important treaty rights and inter- 
ests in those territories, would urge upon them the desirability of affording 
at the earliest possible moment some definite statement, as distinct from 
general assurances, of the measures they propose to take to give effect to their 
intention to respect the treaty rights as explained in the correspondence which 
has taken place between the two Governments. Such statements would have 
the advanta2:e of placing His .Alajesty's Government in a position to satisfy 
public opinion in this country that their acquiescence in the tr.nnsfer of the 
Kongo State to Belgium will not he inconsistent with the duties and responsi- 
bilities assumed by Great Britain when first she recognized the International 
Association and subscribed to the acts of Berlin and Brussels. 

Foreign Office, June 23, 1908. 



j^52 AFFAIRS m THE KONGO. 

No. 3. 

Sir Edipard Oretj to Sir A. Hardinge. 

Foreign Office, July 13, 1908. 

Sir: The Belgian minister handed me to-day a memorandum, copy of which 
is inclosed heiewith,« which he informed me was the reply of the Belgian 
Government to the memorandum of the 23d June, which I had given them. 

After h;nnding me this reply the Belgian minister read to me the communi- 
cation, of which a copy is also inclosed.'' 

I told him that I must study the reply of the Belgian Government, and that 
I would not attempt to read it on the spot. I should also need time to consider 
the points which he had raised in the communication he had been instructed 
to make to me. They referred to the wording of an article in the Berlin act, 
which I must look up. Certainly it had not occurred to me that the words of 
the article might be so limited as not to apply to a transfer. 

The Belgian minister said that the article applied to " taking possession," 
but in this case Belgium was simply " inheriting." 

I told him it seemed to me that when one government relinquished possession, 
and handed over territory to another government, the latter government must 
be regarded as taking possession of the territory. 

I observed generally that what the Belgian minister had read seemed to imply 
that it was a more simple matter for Belgium to talve over the Kongo than it 
would be if she had to take over something with which she had had no previous 
connection. 

He remarked that he did not think " simple " was the word used. 

I explained that what I meant was this: From our point of view the fact 
that we already had treaty rights in the Kongo State, and had been in acute 
disagreement with the government of that State about those rights, compli- 
cated the matter, because if one State was in acute disagreement with another 
about treaty rights, and proposed to transfer its territory to a third State, then 
the State which considered itself aggrieved, as we considered ourselves ag- 
grieved by the disagreement about our treaty rights, would naturally be much 
more particular in making conditions with the third State, who was the trans- 
feree, than it would be if that State was taking over territory which had 
previously been vacant, or about which the aggrieved State had had no dispute. 

I should, however, require time to study the Belgian reply, and to reflect at 
leisure upon what Count de Lalaing had said. 

I am, etc., E. Grey. 



No. .4. 

M. Davignon to Count de Lalaing. 

[Translation.] 

Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 

Brussels, July 12, 1908. 

M. le CoMTE : I have the honor to request you to transmit to His Majesty's 
under-secretary of state for foreign affairs the accompanying document, which 
is the reply of the King's Government to the memorandum of the 23d June which 
Sir B. Grey asked you to forward to it. 

In handing you this memorandum, his excellency had informed you that if 
the exchange of views between the two Governments were not continued, 
although the foreign office was quite willing to continue it should we desire it, 
it must not be inferred that the British Government would consider itself 
bound to recognize unconditionally the transfer of the Kongo to Belgium, 
which would be notified to it subsequently. His excellency had added that the 
British Government reserved entire freedom on this point, and that its answer 
would depend upon the further and more detailed assurances which the King's 
Government might think fit to give it after the annexation, should it take 
place. 

The communication made to you by Sir E. Grey calls for a reply from us. 

We do not here wish to discuss the question as to whether article 34 of the 
I5erlin act, which fixes the conditions necessary for the recognition as effective 
of fresh occupations on the coasts of the African continent applies to Belgium 
in this particular case. The very title of Chapter VI, of which article 34 
forms part, and the text of the article itself, show clearly that they only deal 



" Inclosure in No. 4. 6 No. 4. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 153 

with the taking possession by means of new occupation or of the establish- 
ment of protectorates, and not with the transfer of one regular government 
carried on by whites to another government under the same sovereign, as in 
the case of the annexation of the Kongo to Belgium. The object of the Ber- 
lin conference in drawing up articles 34 and 35, which together make up 
Chapter VI, was to prevent fictitious annexations and the causes of conflict 
which would result therefrom, as is proved by the debates and comments called 
forth by the discussion of these articles, more especially the speech made by 
Prince Bismarck at the meeting of the conference held on the 15th November 
18S4. 

Moreover, we do not consider that the legitimate interests of England would 
in any way be injured by the annexation of the Kongo. Without in the least 
desiring to contest the right of the British Government to examine this ques- 
tion, we await with complete confidence the resvilt of this examination. The 
interests of Great Britain in the Kongo may be expressed as consisting in the 
observance of its treaty rights. In this respect it must derive a feeling of 
complete security from the long experience of the good faith shown by Bel- 
gium in fulfilling its engagements, for the international obligations of the 
Kongo State will continue to bind its successor, itself a party to the Berlin 
act. The incorporation of the Independent State with Belgium has from the 
very first been looked to, in other countries as well as in our own country, as 
the final stage of its natural development. The personal union which gave the 
same sovereign to the two states has always caused the Kongo to be regarded 
as a future Belgian colony, which received in the meantime a special form of 
autonomy. In 1889 the King bequeathed the Kongo to Belgium ; in the fol- 
lowing year, scarcely five years after the Berlin conference, closer conventional 
bonds were established by our country with the Independent State; it was 
intended that tliese bonds should shortly be converted into a definite union, 
which has only been hitherto delayed by consideration of internal policy. 

It would be ditficult to imagine how an annexation so long prepared with the 
good will of the powers could interfere with British interests. Not only has 
the British Government recognized by its declarations in Parliament that Bel- 
gium had over the Kongo rights which no other power possesses, but it has been 
so good as to state, at the commencement of this exchange of views, in its 
communication of the 23d January last to the cabinet of Brussels, that the 
transfer of the Independent State to our country would be the best solution of 
the differences which had arisen between England and that state. The Bel- 
gian Government, bearing in mind the above considerations, and confident that 
it is capable of fulfilling worthily the great civilizing mission about to fall to 
it, feels convinced that the transfer of the Kongo to Belgium will be accepted 
by England without any reservations. Even were this hope not realized, the 
King's Government, nevertheless, believes that when the British Government 
sees it at work it will not persist in its reservations when it has realized the 
results obtained by the Belgian administration in the Kongo. 

You will read this dispatch to his excellency, and, if necessary, you will leave 
a copy of it with him. You will at the same time notify to his excellency that 
the Belgian Government is anxious to communicate to Parliament the latter 
part of this correspondence before the close of the debates to which the annex- 
ation of the Kongo has given rise. This publication will take place m a few 
days' time. ^ 

I have, etc., Davignon. 

Llnclosure — Translation.] 

After a full consideration of the memorandum handed to the Comte de 
Lalaing on the 23d of June by His Britannic Majesty's secretary of state for 
foreign affairs, the King's Government notes with a satisfaction not less lively 
than that felt by the British Government the harmony which reigns between 
the two Governments with regard to the principal points nientioned in the 
last Belgian memorandum, viz, the immediate improvement of the moral and 
material conditions of the existence of the Kongo natives, as rapid an exten- 
Son as possible to all parts of the colony of such economic progress as has 
already been achieved, the application of the commercial clauses of the Benin 

''is^s\towS"brthe"m'emo?^^^^^^^ of the 23d June, which reached us on the 
2^5^ thlBTmsh Government had considered the advisability of asking the 
Belgian^o^vSnment IfaS-ee to the total abolition of the labor tax wi^hm a 
fix^ period and to the settlement by arbitration of all purely commeiciai 



154 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

questions arising out of the international obligations of the Kongo State. 
Suggestions to this effect were made in the course of informal conversations 
which took place between the minister for foreign affairs and Sir A. Hardinge, 
but did not, however, assume the shape of definite proposals. After a full 
consideration of the memorandum of the 23d April,'' the British Government 
recognizes the difficulty of insisting upon the total abolition of the labor tax 
at a definite date. It will not, therefore, press for the fixing of such date, 
provided the measures necessary for remedying the abuses which still exist 
in the Kongo, more especially in respect of the treatment of natives, are taken 
without delay, and that existing or future concessions are interpreted in such 
a way as to admit the extended rights of occupation of the natives and their 
freedom to dispose of the natural products of the soil. 

The cabinet of Brussels intends to issue and give effect to the said measures 
for improving the let of the natives as soon as ever the annexation of the 
Kongo and the colonial law have been voted by Parliament. It has promised 
the Chamber of Representatives to do so on more than one occasion; it has 
confirmed this promise to the British Government in writing; it can only 
to-day repeat its promise with the same earnestness and sincerity as before. 

It would be difl^cult to go into the details for giving effect thereto, as 
requested by the cabinet of London, until the representatives of the nation 
have come to a decision on the actual question of annexation and have 
approved the colonial bill; nevertheless, the King's Government, desirous of 
giving a fresh proof of the traditional friendship which unites Belgium to 
Great Britain, will endeavor to trace here, with as much precision as possible, 
the measures which it proposes to take in order to carry out the programme it 
has drawn up. The said measures will take the form of laws, decrees, or 
administrative provisions as soon as the Government has been invested by 
the colonial law with the powers which it now lacks. Conscious of its respon- 
sibility, and in the full exercise of its sovereignty, it will accomplish this task 
as promptly as the existing state of affairs and considerations of expediency 
allow — considerations no State on taking possession of a colony already organ- 
ized can afford to ignore. 

The Belgian Government is ready to affirm that it will at once give prompt 
and full eff'ect to the royal decree of the 3d June, 1906, with regard to the 
increased grant of land to the natives for cultivation and commerce. The same 
decree provides that an inquiry be held in all villages with a view to fixing 
the extent of the sites which ought to be reserved to their inhabitants ; the new 
administration will expedite the work of this inquiry so as to make it give the 
expected results as quickly as possible. The colonial authorities will fix, fully 
and precisely, the regulations for the sale of the domain lands with a view to 
satisfy the requirements of the missionaries and traders more especially. The 
Government will take the greatest care that the concessionary companies do 
not in any way infringe its undertakings, and that they respect the liberty to 
work as well as the right of the natives to dispose of the products of the soil 
assigned to them. 

Is it finally necessary to call to memory that the intentions of the Belgian 
Government find expression in its public declarations, the exact import of 
which has not escaped the British Government, for it received them most favor- 
ably? They have been submitted to the Belgian chambers, and have thereby 
acquired the value of engagements, to which effect will be given under their 
control and with their assistance. The solicitude of Parliament for the lot of 
the Kongolese natives equals that of the Government itself, and has been 
explicitly and energetically manifested during the recent debates. 

The British Government, after having taken note of the repeated assurances 
of the Belgian cabinet in regard to the loyal and entire execution of the treaty 
engagements contracted with England and with the other powers which signed 
the acts of the conferences of Berlin and Brussels, will surely admit that it 
now possesses all the guarantees which Belgium is in a position to give. 

The memorandum of the 23d June adds that the British Government would 
welcome an assurance that the Belgian Government would not refuse, if invited 
to do so, to refer in the last resort to arbitration any differences of view as to 
the meaning of those treaties binding the Kongo State which bear on com- 
mercial questions should an understanding be unattainable by ordinary 
di])lomatic methods. 

The above proposal, thus stated, has been examined by the Belgian Govern- 
ment all the more attentively, inasmuch as it is sincerely anxious to dispel the 



«See No. 3, "Africa, No. 3 (1908). 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 155 

last remaining misgivings with regard to the observance in the future of the 
clauses of the Berlin act. 

It finds it difficult, however, to admit that Belgium, alone among the powers 
which signed the said act, should give to one of those powers a general under- 
taking which differs as regards arbitration from the principle laid down in 
article 12. 

The King's Government, however, is anxious to affirm the sympathy which it 
has always felt for arbitration, a sympathy it gave expression toby signing with 
several States treaties which have met with a most enthusiastic welcome, both 
in Parliament and in the country. In a similar spirit the Kongo State concluded 
an agreement on its part with England with a view to submitting to the arbi- 
tration of the tribunal of The Hague any question which might arise regarding 
the frontiers of the Kongo State. The King's Government is therefore dis- 
posed to state that, if it were invited, after annexation, to refer in the last 
resort to the permanent tribunal of The Hague any dispute arising from a 
divergence of opinion as to the interpretation of the treaties binding the Kongo 
State, it would give the proposal the most favorable consideration, being guided 
by the liberal views which inspired the preparation of the general arbitration 
treaties which it has already signed, sub.iect to the reservation, however — a 
reservation recognized by England herself in analogous treaties— that the dis- 
pute should touch neither the honor nor the national sovereignty, and not losing 
sight of the desirability of applying to collective treaties article 84 « of the 
act of the conference of The Hague. 

This article runs as follows : " When there is a question as to the interpreta- 
tion of a convention of which other powers are signatories, the parties to the 
proceedings shall Inform all the signatory powers in good time. Each of these 
powers is entitled to intervene in the proceeding. If one or more avnil them- 
selves of the right, the interpretation given by the award is equally binding 
on them." 

The Berlin act being a collective treaty, the British Government will not 
fail to realize the objections and the difficulties which would i-esult from a 
differential application of the clauses of the said treaties in the various territo- 
ries comprised in the conventional basin of the Kongo. 

In order to remove these objections, it should be understood that the arbitral 
award would not be applied till the other powers having possessions in the 
basin aforesaid shall, on being invited, have given their accession to it. 

It must also be borne in mind that article 68 of the Belgian constitution 
renders recourse to such procedure subject to the consent of Parliament. 
" Commercial treaties," says this article, " and treaties calculated to burden 
the Kongo State and bind individual Belgian citizens only take etfect after 
receiving the assent of the chambers." In order to adopt the compromise by 
which questions of a commercial character are submitted to arbitration as 
well as questions of which the settlement would affect either the finances of the 
Kongo State or the particular interests of Belgian subjects, it is absolutely 
necessary that the Government should obtain the approval of Parliament. 

The above considerations do not dispense the King's Government from 
pointing out that the best method, in its opinion, of settling the questions or 
disputes which might arise after annexation would be a direct understanding 
between all the powers having possessions in the conventional basin. 

The Belgian Government frankly prefers this method of settlement, which 
would assure a common interpretation of the clauses of the Berli-i net, and it 
mvites the cabinet of London, in its turn, to be so good as to consider it. 

The British Government realizes the necessity of convincing public opinion 
in England that the recognition of the transfer of the Kongo to Belgium will 
not be contrary to the duties and responsibilities assumed by Great Britain 
when it recognized the interntitional association and signed the Berlin and 
Brussels acts. The King's Government is convinced thnt the explanations 
contained in this memorandum will enable His Britannic Majesty's ministers 
to attain fully this result. , .^, ^ 

The Belgian Government can not close this memorandum without exjiressmg 
the satisfaction which it felt on learning that the British Government attaches 
the same importance as itself to the bonds of friendship which unite tne two 
countries since Belgium took its place among the nations. It is superfluous to add 
that it has itself been animated by the same friendly sentiments throughout the 
present exchange of views. ^ 

«Gce "Miscellaneous No. 6 (190S)." 



156 AFFAIRS IN" THE KONGO. 

No. 76. 

Eanded to the Acting Secretary of State hy the Belgian Minister, 

July H, 1908. 

[Translation.] 

On April 16'* last the King's Government received, through the 
United States minister at Brussels, the second memorandum ad- 
dressed to it by the American Government regarding the forthcom- 
ing annexation of the Independent State of the Kongo by Belgium. 
The document had been drawn up by the Cabinet of Washmgton 
after an exchange of views with the Government of His Britannic 
Majesty, which had asked it to support near the Belgian Government 
two propositions it intended to submit to the last-named Govern- 
ment—the first concerning the abolition of forced labor within the 
territories of the Kongo after they became Belgian ; the second rela- 
tive to recourse to arbitration for the settlement of the disputes 
arising from purely commercial questions. 

These propositions were to be brought before the Government of 
the King simultaneously by the two Governments ; so the Cabinet of 
Brussels deemed it preferable to defer its answer until it should have 
received from the British Government a request similar to that con- 
tained in the second American memorandum. This view was made 
known to Mr. H. Lane Wilson by the minister for foreign affairs as 
early as the 16th of April, and it was agreed that the second Ameri- 
can memorandum would not be made public until after the English 
memorandum setting forth the same propositions had been received at 
Brussels. The memorandum was handed to the minister for foreign 
affairs on June 25. 

The Belgian Government now answers the two Governments of the 
United States and of Great Britain. 

In its answer, dated April 24, to the first American memorandum, 
the Kirg's Government gave very clear explanations touching the 
question of forced labor, otherwise known as the labor tax. It de- 
clared that native labor was to be free and voluntary in the Kongo, 
and that the principle of personal freedom, laid down in the colonial 
law, would suffer but one exception, that of the labor tax to be col- 
lected from people who were unable to pay it in currency. This 
mode of taxation is legitimate; no government ever hesitated to de- 
mand it in its colonies, but it constitutes a merely temporary and 
provisional measure which shall be entirely removed as the natives 
grow more familiar with the use of currency, which is beginning to 
spread in certain districts of the Kongo. 

It is unfortunately impossible to fix at this time a date for the 
entire and final suppression of the labor tax in the future colonies. 
The Government of His Britannic Majesty itself realizes this im- 
possibility, as it intimates in its second memorandum. The civiliza- 
tion which Belgium will unceasingly endeavor to propagate in the re- 
gions of Central Africa which are to form its colonial domains will 
gradually substitute the currency tax for the labor tax, but in the 
meantime the latter tax shall be collected in a humane and moderate 
manner. 

« See paper No. 67, p. 106. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 157 

As regards the general application to the native races of the pro- 
visions of articles 2 and 5 of the Brussels act in which the American 
Government IS concerned, the cabinet of Brussels can but repeat as 
strongly its former declarations. The improvement of physical and 
moral conditions of the natives engrosses its best attention. It will 
as soon as the chambers shall have voted the annexation treaty and 
the colonial law, take shape in the swifter progress made in the 
inquiry prescribed by the decree of June 3, 1906, in all villa oes with 
a view to determining the area of land required by the needs of the 
inhabitants. As a result of this inquiry much more land will be 
allotted to the natives for their farming and commerce. The Gov- 
ernment will see that the concessionary companies do not transo-ress 
the engagements taken by it and respect the freedom of labor as^well 
as the right of the natives freely to dispose of the products of the 
soil on tlie land allotted to them. 

The second proposition formulated by the Government of the 
United States relates to the reference to compulsory arbitration of 
all commercial and economic questions that would occasion a dis- 
pute, the settlement of which could not be reached through the ordi- 
nary diplomatic channels. The cabinet at Washington urges the 
Belgian Government to accept a proposition so entirely in accord- 
ance with the rapidly growing practice of civilized nations. This 
would prove a sufficient reason for the Belgian Government to ex- 
amine this proposition with the most earnest attention, if it were not 
equally impelled thereto by its desire to leave no apprehension in 
regard to the observation of the act of Berlin in its future colony. 

The strong inclination of the Government of the King toward 
recourse to arbitration for the settlement of international disputes 
is well known; it was notably affirmed through the conclusion with 
several States of arbitration treaties, which public sentiment in Bel- 
gium viewed no less favorably than the Parliament. Yet in spite 
of its pronounced predilection for this procedure destined to force 
itself upon peaceful nations as a happy means of bringing their con- 
troversies to an end, the cabinet of Brussels finds it very difficult to 
admit that Belgium, alone, among the powers holding possessions in 
the conventional basin of the Kongo, should enter upon an engage- 
ment as general in its character as that of compulsory recourse to 
arbitration, while under article 12 of the act of Berlin arbitration 
remains optional for the other powers signatory to the act. 

But the Belgian Government finds no difficulty in declaring that 
if, after annexation, it were invited to refer to the tribunal of The 
Hague, as a last resort, a difference arising from a divergence of 
appreciation in the interpretation of the treaties which bind the 
States of the Kongo, it would examine the proposition with special 
benevolence and be inspired by the broad views which guided it in 
the drafting of the arbitration conventions concluded by Belgium. 

It should, however, in such a case give attention to harmonizing 
the resort to arbitral procedure with the enforcement of article 84 
of the act of The Hague conference to which it is a signatory. That 
article requires the contesting parties, when the question affects the 
interpretation of a treaty to which other powers are parties, to give 
timely notice to all the powers that have signed it. Every one of 
them*has the right to become a party to the litigation; if that right 
be availed of by one or more, the interpretation contained m the sen- 



158 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

tence is equally obligatory upon them. Now, the Berlin act is such 
a treaty — a collective treaty. How many objections, how many diffi- 
culties, may arise from a different application of the clauses of that 
treaty in the various tei-ritories comprised in the conventional basin 
of the Kongo? Therefore, in order to avoid any difficulty, it should 
be understood that recourse to arbitration should be had only when 
the other powers holding possessions in said basin have agreed to 
become parties to the litigation or to accept the interpretation given 
by the arbitral award. 

The Government would further be bound to conform to the rules 
laid down in article 68 of the constitution before it can make use of 
the arbitration jDrocedure. " Treaties of commerce," reads that arti- 
cle, " and those that may lay a burden upon the State or bind Bel- 
gians individually only go into effect after receiving the assent of 
the chambers." So that the adoption of a compromis referring to 
arbitration a question of a commercial character or whose settlement 
should involve the state treasury or the personal interests of Belgian 
subjects would remani subject to parliamentary approval. To the 
mind of the King's Government there is a better means than recourse 
to arbitration as advocated by the United States to bring about the 
settlement of disputes in the conventional basin of the Kongo: it 
would be a direct understanding after annexation among all the 
powers holding territories in that region. It does not conceal its 
preference for resorting to this method, which woidd offer the im- 
mense advantage of insuring a general observation of the clauses of 
the Berlin act. 

In the closing part of its memorandum the American Government 
says that, relying upon the rights secured to it by existing treaties, 
it expects to obtain all the privileges, commercial and otherwise, 
accorded in the Kongo to other nations. When it annexes the pos- 
sessions of the Independent State, Belgium will inherit its obliga- 
tions as well as its rights ; it will be able to fulfill all the engagements 
made with the United States by the declarations of April 22, 1884.° 

Declarations exchanged between the United States of America and the Interna- 
tional Association of the Congo. 

The International Association of the Congo hereby declares that by Treaties 
with the legitimate Sovereigns in the basin of the Congo and that of the Niadi- 
Kialun and in adjacent territories upon the Atlantic there h:is been ceded to it 
territory for the use and benefit of Free States established and being established 
under the care and supervision of the said Association in the said basins and 
adjacent territories, to which cession the said Free States of right succeed. 

That the said International Association has adojited for itself and for the 
said Free States, as their standard, the flag of the International African Associa- 
tion, being a blue flag with a golden star in the center. 

That the said Association and the said States have resolved to lew no custom- 
house duties upon goods or articles of merchandise imported into' their terri- 
tories or brought by the route which has been constructed around the Conso 
cataracts; this they have done with a view to enabling commerce to penetrate 
into Equatorial Africa. 

That they guarantee to foreigners settling in their territories the right to pur- 
chase, sell, or lease lands and buildings situated therein; to esta'jlish com- 
mercial houses, and to carry on trade upon the sole condition that they shall 
obey the laws. They pledge themselves, moreen (-••, never to L'lant to the citizens 
of one nation any advantages without immedately extending the same to the 



« [Reprint from Senate Ex. Doc. No. 196. 49th Congress, 1st session, p. 260.] 



AFFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 159 

citizens of all other nations, and to do all in their power to prevent the Slave 
Trade. 

In testimony whereof, Henry S. Sanford, duly empowered tLevefor by the 
said Association, acting for itself and for the said Free Stales, has hereunto set 
his hand and affixed his seal this 22nd day of April, 1SS4, in the city of 
Washington. 

[l. s.] (Signed) H. S. Sanfoed. 

Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State, duly empowered therefor by 
the President of the United States of America and pursuant to the advice and 
consent of the Senate, heretofore given, acknowledges the receipt of the fore- 
going notification from the International Association of the Congo, and declares 
that, in harmony with the traditional policy of the United States, which enjoins 
a proper regard for the commercial interests of their citizens, while at the 
same time avoiding interference with controversies between other Powers as 
well as alliances with foreign nations, the Government of the United States 
announces its sympathy with, and approval of, the humane and benevolent pur- 
poses of the International Association of the Congo, administering, as it does, 
the interests of the Free States there established, and will order the officers of 
the United States, both on land and sea, to recognize the flag of the Inter- 
national African Association as the flag of a friendly Government. 

In testimony whereof he has hereunto set his hand and affixed his seal this 
22nd day of April, A. D., 1884, in the city of Washington. 

[l. s.] (Signed) Fkederick T. Frelinghuysen. 

The foregoing explanation will prove to the American Govern- 
ment that the expression of its views was received by the cabinet of 
Brussels with an attention that was as benevolent as it was merited. 

Dated July 12, 1808. 



No. 77. 

Charge Bliss to the Secretary of State. 

No. 381.] American Legation, 

Brussels^ July 16, 1908. 
Sir: I have the honor to report that on the 14th instant Chev- 
alier van der- Elst, secretary-general of the foreign office, read me 
a dispatch from the Belgian minister for foreign affairs to Baron 
Moncheur, Belgian minister to the United States, directing him to 
hand to the Secretary of State the memorandum it transmitted. 
The said memorandum is an answer to the memorandum presented 
to the Belgian Government bv Mr. Wilson on April 16 last. Chev- 
alier van der Elst handed me a copy of the Belgian memorandum 
for my information, at the same time advising me that a memo- 
randum had been presented to the British Government the day 

^nr'added that his Government desired to publish in a second 
"Grev Book," to be submitted to the Belgian legislative bodies, 
the American and British memoranda and the Belgian replies thereto, 
and expressed a desire to have the early consent of the United States 

to this effect • i 

For the information of the department I beg to transmit W 
with a copy of the British m.emorandum of J^ne 23 and also ot the 
Belgian (Government's reply (in the French text) thereto. 

I have the honor, etc., ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ 

Charge d'Aff aires ad intenm. 



IQQ AFFAIBS IN THE KONGO. 

[ Inclosure. — Translation. ] 
Belgian Govenwienrs reply to British memorandum. 

Upon taking cognizance of ttie memorandum delivered on June 23 to Count 
de L-ilaiug by His Britannic Majesty's secretary of state for foreign affairs, 
the King's Government noted, vpitli a satisfaction equal to that experienced 
bv the British Government, the accord which prevails between them with 
re-^ard to the principal points referred to in the previous Belgian memorandum, 
viz' immediate improvement of the material and moral conditions of exist- 
ence of the natives of the Kongo, as rapid extension as possible of the eco- 
nomic improvements already accomplished to all parts of the colony, and ap- 
plication of the commercial clauses of the act of Berlin in their full tenor and 

SCODG 

As stated in the memorandum of June 23, which reached us on the 25th, the 
British Government recognized the opportuneness of asking the Belgian Gov- 
ernment to abolish totally the labor tax within a certain period, as well as 
to submit to arbitration purely commercial questions arising from interna- 
tional obligations contracted by the Kongo State. In the interviews of an un- 
ofilcial character which took place between the minister for foreign affairs 
and Sir A. Hardinge, these intentions were intimated, without, however, as- 
suming the form of definite propositions. After taking cognizance of the 
memorandum of April 23, the British Government realized the difficulty of 
insisting on the total abolition of the labor tax on a certain date. It will 
not therefore seek to have this date fixed, provided the measures for repress- 
ing the abuses still existing in the Kongo, and esi^ecially with regard to the 
treatment of the natives, are taken without delay, and provided the concessions 
already existing and subsequently granted are interpreted in such a way as 
to recognize the extended rights of occupation of the natives and their freedom 
to dispose of the natural products of the soil. 

As soon as the Kongo country is taken over again and the colonial act passed 
by the Parliament, the Brussels cabinet intends to adopt and carry out these 
measures in behalf of the natives without any delay. It has thus declared 
several times to the Chamber of Representatives; it has confirmed these 
declarations in writing to the British Government, and it can but repeat them 
to-day with the same vigor and sincerity. 

Before the representatives of the nation have pronounced on the qix^stion of 
taking back the Kongo and approved the colonial bill, it would be difficult to 
enter upon the details of execution, as demanded by the London cabinet; how- 
ever, as the King's Government would like to furnish a fresh proof of the 
traditional friendship existing between Belgium and Great Britain, it will 
endeavor to indicate here as precisely as possible the measures which it purposes 
taking in order to accomplish the programme it has outlined. These measures 
will be adopted in the form of laws, decrees, or administrative orders when 
the Government has been invested by the colonial law with the powers it now 
lacks. Conscious of its responsibility and in the full exercise of its sovereignty, 
it will perform this task with all the celerity possible in view of the actual 
situation and the considerations of expediency which any nation must neces- 
sarily take into account when taking possession of a colony already organized. 
The Belgian Government can give assurance right now that it will see to the 
prompt and liberal execution of the royal decree of June 3, 1906, on the exten- 
sion of the lands to be assigned to the natives for their cultivation and traffic. 
The same decree pi'ovided for an investigation to be made in all the villages 
with a view to determining the amount of land that ought to be reserved for 
their inhabitants. The new Government will push this investigation in order 
to derive from it as rapidly as possible the results awaited. The colonial 
authorities shall adopt comprehensive and exact rules for the sale of govern- 
ment lands, with a particular view to satisfying the demands of missionaries 
and merchants. The Government shall exercise strict vigilance to prevent 
concessionary companies from violating in any way the obligations they have 
assumed, and it shall see that they respect freedom of labor as well as the 
rights of the natives to dispose of the products of the soil which is assigned 
to them. 

Is it necessary, finally, to recall the fact that the intentions of the Belgian 
Government were shown in the declarations which it made publicly and the 
exact scope of which could not have escaped the British Government, since it 
received them with the gieatest favor? Ilaving been laid before the Belgian 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 161 

Chambers, they acquired the character of engagements to be carried out under 
their supervision and with their cooperation. The solicitude of Parlianienrfor 
the welfare of the Kongo natives is equal to that of the Government itself and 
was explicitly and energetically manifested during the course of the last 

0.6D3.1GS. 

After taking note of the reiterated statements of the Belgian cabinet with 
regard to the faithful and complete fulfillment of the conventional obligations 
contracted toward l^ngland, as well as toward the other powers which si^^ned 
the acts of the Berlin and Brussels conferences, the British Government "will 
certainly be willing to admit that it already possesses all the assurances that 
Belgium is able to give. 

The memorandum of June 23 adds that the British Government would be 
glad to receive the promise that the Belgian Government would not, if invited 
refuse to submit to arbitration, as a last resort, all differences of opinion 
regarding the interpretation of the treaties binding the Kongo State with regard 
to commercial questions, provided it has been impossible to reach an agreement 
through ordinary diplomatic channels. 

Thus formulated, this proposition was examined by the Belgian Government 
with all the more serious attention because it is sincerely desirous of dispelling 
any apprehensions which may still exist with regard to the future observance 
of the clauses of the Berlin act. 

It appears to it difficult, however, to admit that Belgium alone, among the 
powers signing this act, should assume toward one of them a general engage- 
ment contrary, as far as arbitration is concerned, to the principle established in 
article 12. 

Nevertheless, the Government is anxious to confirm the favorable feeling 
which it cherishes toward arbitration, and which it has manifested by signing 
with several nations treaties which met with the warmest reception in Parlia- 
ment and throughout the country. It was in this same spirit that the Kongo 
State concluded an agreement with England for the purpose of submitting to 
the arbitration of the Hague tribunal any dispute that might arise regarding 
the boundaries of the State. The King's Government is therefore disposed to 
declare that if, after the annexation, it should be requested to submit in the 
last resort to the Hague tribunal a difference arising from a divergence of 
opinion as to the interpretation of the treaties binding the Kongo State, it 
would consider such a proposition in a most kindly spirit, seeking its inspiration 
in the broad views which dominated in the preparation of the general arbitration 
treaties which it has already signed, with the provision, however, accepted by 
England herself in similar treaties, that the difference affects neither the honor 
nor the sovereignty of the nation, and taking into account the application which 
ought to be made to collective treaties of article 84 of the Hague conference. 

This article is worded as follows: 

" When there is a question of interpreting a convention in which other 
powers than those in controversy have participated, the latter shall opportunely 
notify all the signatory powers. Each of these powers shall be entitled to take 
part in the proceedings, and if one or more of them have availed themselves 
of this right, the interpretation given in the award shall be equally binding in 
regard to them." 

The Berlin act being a collective treaty, the British Government will surely 
realize the inconveniences and difficulties which would arise from a different 
application of the clauses of these treaties in the various territories comprised 
within the conventional basin of the Kongo. 

In order to avoid these difficulties, it ought to be understood that the arbitral 
award would not be enforced until the other powers having possessions in this 
basin gave it their sanction upon being requested. 

It must be mentioned, on the other hand, that article 68 of the Belgian con- 
stitution makes the use of such a procedure subject to the consent of Parlia- 
ment. " Commercial treaties," says this article, " and those which might impose 
an obligation on the nation and bind Belgians individually, shall not be effective 
until they have received the approval of the chambers." In order to conclude 
an agreement to refer to arbitration a question of a commercial nature or the 
solution of which would involve either the national finances or the private 
interests of Belgian sub.iects, the Government would therefore absolutely re- 
quire the approval of Parliament. ., ^ . 

The foregoing considerations impel the King's Government to observe that in 
its opinion the best means of settling disputes which may arise after the annexa- 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 11 



IQ2 APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

tion would be by a direct understanding among all the powers haying pos- 
sessions in the conventional basin. 

It does not pretend to disguise its preference for this method of solution, 
which would insure a joint interpretation of the clauses of the Berlin act, and 
it requests the London cabinet to kindly examine into it. 

The British Government feels the need of convincing public opinion in Eng- 
land that a recognition of the transfer of the Kongo to Belgium will not be con- 
trary to the duties and responsibilities assumed by Great Britain when it 
recognized the international association and signed the Berlin and Brussels 
acts. The King's Government does not doubt that the explanations contained 
in this memorandum will enable the ministers of His Britannic Majesty to fully 
accomplish this purpose. 

It can not conclude the present memorandum without expressing its grati- 
fication in learning that the British Government attaches the same value as does 
the Belgian Government to the bonds of friendship which have united the two 
countries ever since Belgium assumed a place among the nations. It is super- 
fluous to add that it has constantly been animated by these friendly feelings 
itself during the course of this exchange of views. 



No. 78. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 393.] American Legation, 

Brussels^ August 21^ 1908, 

Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith copy and translation of 
the colonial law just adopted by the Belgian Chamber of Representa- 
tives, and which now requires only the approval of the Senate and of 
the King, in conjunction with the approval of the act of annexation, 
to make of annexation an accomplished fact. 

At the time of the adoption of the colonial law the treaty of an- 
nexation was also passed, but as a coj)y of its provisions, accompanied 
by translation, is already in the hands of the department, I have not 
thought it necessary to transmit it with this dispatch.'* 

There can be no manner of doubt that the Senate will approve the 
treaty of annexation and the colonial law in their entirety, and this, 
I believe, without amendments germane to the character of either in- 
strument. If any changes are made by the Senate they will not 
affect the general character of the instruments, but will have to do 
with their form only. There seems to be no doubt that, following 
the action of the legislative bodies, the approval of His Majesty the 
King will be promptly forthcoming. 
I have the honor, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



No. 79. 

[Inclosure. — Translation.] 

BILL PROVIDING FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BELGIAN KONGO.* 

[Text adopted by the Chamber at the first reading.] 

Chapter 1.— Concerning the juridical status of the Belgian Kongo. 

Article 1. The Belgian Kongo has a legal status distinct from that of the 
mother country. It is governed by separate and distinct laws. The resources 

« Printed ante, p. 27. » For original " Project," see p. 92. 



APFATES I]Sr THE KONGO. 163 

and liabilities of Belgium and the colony remain distinct. In consequence the 
Kongolese interest charges will rest exclusively to the charge of the colony 
unless it shall be decided otherwise by law. 

Chapter ll.—Concerning the rights of Belgians, foreigners, and natives. 

Art. 2. All the inhabitants of the colony will enjoy the rights recognized by 
article 7, paragraphs 1 and 2, articles 8 to 15, inclusive, article 16, paragraph 
1, article 17, paragraph 1, and articles 21, 22, and 24 of the Belgian constitution. 
The words " the law " mentioned in article 7, paragraphs 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, article 
17, paragraph 1, and article 22 of the Belgian constitution are replaced, in 
whatever relates to the colony, by the words " the special laws or decrees." ' 

The language which shall be employed is optional. It will be regulated by 
special laws or decrees in such a way as to guarantee the rights of Belgians and 
Kongolese and so regulated only for official acts and juridical business. 

The Belgians will enjoy in the Kongo in these matters guaranties similar to 
those which are assured them in Belgium. Special laws or decrees will be pro- 
mulgated to this effect at a date not less than five years following the promul- 
gation of the present law. 

All the decrees and regulations having a general character shall be drawn 
and published in the French and Flemisn languages. The two texts are official. 

Belgians and Kongolese registered in the colony and foreigners shall enjoy 
all the civil rights conceded by the legislation of the Belgian Kongo. Their 
personal status is regulated by their national law, provided that these are not 
contrary to public order. 

Natives of the Belgian Kongo not registered enjoy the civil rights which are 
conceded them by the colonial legislation and by their customs, provided these 
are not contrary either to law or public order. Natives of neighboring countries 
not registered shall enjoy similar rights. 

No person can be constrained to work for the account or profit of commercial 
societies or private persons. 

The laws will determine as soon as possible the status of the natives, their 
real rights, and individual liberty. 

Art. 3. The governor-general will guard the preservation of the native popu- 
lation, the improvement of their moral and material conditions. He shall 
favor the expansion of individual liberty, the gradual abandonment of polyg- 
amy, and the development of individual holdings. He shall protect and favor, 
without distinction of nationality or religion, all the religious, scientific, or 
charitable institutions and enterprises created and organized for the purpose 
or aim of instructing the natives and bringing them to a comprehension and 
appreciation of the advantages of civilization. 

Christian missionaries, scholars, explorers, their escorts, belongings, and col- 
lections shall be the object of a special protection. 

Art. 4. There shall be established a permanent commission of seven mem- 
bers charged with the responsibility of watching over all the territory of the 
colony, with the protection of the natives, and with the betterment of their 
moral and material condition. 

The commission shall be under the presidency of the procureur-general. The 
other members shall be named by the King from among those persons residing 
in the territory of the colony who by the nature of their functions appear 
specially qualified to carry out the protective character of their mission. The 
commission will appoint one of its members as secretary. 

It will meet at least once each year ; its president will convoke it. 

The commission will address each year to the King a joint report relative to 
the measures taken in favor of the natives. This report shall be published. 

The members of the commission shall report, if necessary individually, to the 
officers of the law the abuses and illegalities of which the natives may have 
been made the victims. 

Chapter III. — Relative to the exercise of powers. 

Art 5 The King will regulate by means of decrees those matters which are 
not or which shall not be regulated by the law. The decrees shall be issued 
upon the initiative of the minister of colonies. No decree shall have force 
except after having been published according to the forms prescribed by the law. 
It should, moreover, have been published in the Moniteur Beige. 



164 APFAIBS IN THE KONGO. 

The courts and the tribunals shall not put the decrees into force whenever 
they shall be found contrary to the laws. . , „ , . ^ 

Art 6. The executive power shall be lodged in the Kmg. It shall be exercised 
by means of regulations and proclamations. The courts and the tribunals shall 
not put the regulations and proclamations into force except when they are in 
conformity with the laws and decrees. 

No regulation or proclamation shall be considered in force except after having 
been published. ^ . 

Art. 7. No royal act shall have effect except when countersigned by a minis- 
ter, who thereby renders himself responsible. 

The expenses charged to the special fund of 50,000,000 francs, which amount 
is granted to the King and to his successors by article 4, paragraphs 3 and 4, 
of the additional act of March 5, 1908, shall likewise be subjected to this 
formality. . ■ , 

The annuities specified by the aforesaid additional act are assigned by the 
King in the proportions which he shall indicate to the objects enumerated in 
paragraph 5 of article 4. 

Art. 8. No customs tax, no domestic tax shall be levied except for the needs 
of the colony, nor shall any exemption from taxation be granted to persons not 
born on the soil, except by legislative act. 

The governor and the functionaries or agents thereto authorized can grant to 
the natives temporary exemption from taxation. 

The decree will go into force at the same time with the budget law which 
sanctions its first application. 

The numerical force of the army shall be fixed annually by decree. 

Art. 9. The circulating medium of gold and silver which have a legal tender 
in Belgium shall also have legal tender in the colonies. 

A royal proclamation shall fix the date on which the gold and silver money 
coined by the Independent State of the Kongo shall cease to be legal tender and 
will not be exchanged further by the colonial treasury. 

The profits which may result from the coinage of Belgian money necessary to 
the colony shall accrue to the colonial budget. 

It is lawful for the King to coin special money of small denomination for 
the colony ; this money shall not circulate in Belgium. 

Art. 10. The budget of receipts and expenses of the colony shall be fixed 
each year by the law. 

Four months at least before the opening of the fiscal year the proposed budget 
shall be printed and distributed to the members of the legislative chambers 
by the minister of colonies. 

If the chambers have not voted the budget five days before the opening of 
the fiscal year, the King shall proclaim the receipts, and every three months 
thereafter until there shall be a decision of the chambers there will be offered 
at the ministry of colonies the credit obligations necessary for temporary ex- 
penses. 

The King, or within the colony the governor-general, shall direct the appro- 
priation and, in case of urgent need, the supplementary necessary expenses. 
Within the three months the minister of colonies will transmit a copy of the 
royal proclamation or ordinance to the chambers and submit a bill of approval. 

Art. 11. The accounts general of the colony shall be proclaimed by law after 
verification by the court of accounts. 

The court of accounts will require the ministry of colonies to deliver to it all 
statements, written accounts, and to give all the information and explanations 
necessary to the verification of the receipts and expenditures. 

The account general of the colony shall be transmitted to the chambers with 
the comments of the court of accounts. 

Art. 12. The colony has no power to make loans, to guarantee the capital or 
the interest of a loan, or to execute public works except by appropriations duly 
authorized by law. 

Nevertheless, if the necessities of the colonial treasury demand it, the King 
may, without previous authorization, issue or renew treasury bonds bearing 
interest and payable within five years. The treasury bonds in circulation shall 
not exceed the sum of 10,000.000 francs, and the money resulting from their 
sale shall be appropriated only to the discharge of public expenses regularly 
voted. 

Art. 13. A special law will determine the rules regulating railway and 
mining concessions or concessions of domanial property. 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 165 

With every railway or mining concession, every sale or concession for any 
time whatsoever of domanial property of a superficial area exceeding 10 
hectares, there shall be issued a consent or authority by decree. 

With all the documentary proofs, during thirty days of session, there shall 
be deposited with the bureaus of the two chambers all proposed decrees relat- 
ing to — 

(a) Railway, mines, mining, or alluvial gold concessions; 

(ft) Sale of domanial improved property of a superficial area exceeding 
10,000 hectares ; 

(c) Concession of the use of domanial improved property if their super- 
ficial area exceeds 25,000 hectares or when the concession is granted for more 
than thirty years. 

To determine the maximum of superficial area referred to in paragraphs 2 
and 3, notice shall be taken of sales or concessions of domanial property 
where the purchaser or concessioner may have enjoyed a prior profit. 

All acts of concession will include a clause providing for repurchase and 
will mention the cause of the forfeiture. 

Every concession shall be temporary. 

Akt. 14. The civil judiciary and the military judiciary shall be organized 
by decree. 

The public prosecutors shall excercise their functions under the direction of 
the ministry of colonies, represented in the colony by the procureur-general 
of the court of appeals. 

Aet. 15. The permanent magistrates shall be nominated by the King. After 
a period, which shall not exceed three years, they shall be renominated for a 
term of ten years. 

The right of dismissing the procureur-general of the court of appeals apper- 
tains to the King. He may not, however, either dismiss or suspend the other 
permanent magistrates, except upon the representation of the procureur-general 
for reasons set forth in the decree and in conformity with the advice of the 
court of appeals. 

At the expiration of their terms of ofiice the magistrates will be entitled to 
a pension. They may, however, be granted a pension prior to the expiration o£ 
the ten-year term, either upon their request, when they shall have rendered 
eight years of service in the colony, including the period of preparation, or 
where they are prevented by reasons of physical incapacity to eificiently dis- 
charge their duties. In the latter case the pension shall not be established 
except upon the advice and agreement of the supreme court of the colony. 

The permanent magistrates definitely in discharge of their functions can 
not be removed without their consent, except in cases of urgent need and for 
a temporary period. In all cases of removal they shall receive a salary at 
least equivalent to that which pertained to the ofiice vacated. 

The salaries, leaves of absence, and pensions shall be fixed by decree. 

Art. 16. The administrative authority shall not hinder, delay, or suspend 
the procedure of the courts and tribunals. 

Nevertheless, the King may, for reasons relating to the public welfare, sus- 
pend, in any one district and for a fixed time, repressive action of the courts 
and civil tribunals and substitute for tliem military control. 

Aet. 17. Justice shall be rendered and executed in the name of the King. 

The sessions of the courts shall be held in public, unless it shall be evident 
that such publicity may be dangerous to public order and morals, and in such 
case the court will render its decision by a judgment. 

All judgments shall be for reasons, and they shall be delivered in public 
Sessions 

The King shall have the right of remitting, of reducing, and commuting the 
penalties. . 

Aet. 18. The King shall be represented in the colony by a governor-general, 
assisted by one or more vice-governors-general. 

No one shall be admissible to the functions of governor-general unless he 
shall be a Belgian by birth or by naturalization, or when he has exercised 
one of these offices in the territories of the Independent State of the Kongo. 

Aet. 19. The executive power can not delegate the exercise of_its^ nghts 

scept to persons and to constitute " -■ • ^ " " 

.jie power and rights delegated ] 
the special committee of Katanga 
unless a decree shall terminate it at a prior date. 



166 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

The governor-general of the colony shall exercise by means of ordinances 
the executive power which the King has delegated to him. 

The delegation of the legislative power is prohibited. Nevertheless, the 
King may authorize the governor-general, in cases of urgent necessity, to tem- 
porarily suspend the execution of decrees and to issue ordinances having the 
force of law. The ordinances of this character shall cease to be binding after 
the expiration of six months, if they shall not in the meantime have been 
approved by decree. 

The ordinances having the force of law and the general ordinances of 
administration shall not be binding unless they have been published. 

No action shall be taken against the press, except in conformity with the 
laws and decrees governing such cases. 

Chapter IV. — Relating to the Minister of Colonies and the Colonial Council. 

Art. 20. A ministry of colonies is created. The minister of colonies is nomi- 
nated and dismissed by the King. He shall take part in the council of min- 
isters. 

The articles 86 and 91 of the Belgian constitution are applicable to him. 

Art. 21. A colonial council is established consisting of a president and four- 
teen councilors. 

The minister of colonies shall preside over the council. He shall have a voice 
in the discussion and in case of an equal division a casting vote. 

Eight councilors shall be named by the King ; six shall be chosen by the legis- 
lative chambers — three by the Senate and three by the Chamber of Representa- 
tives. They shall be elected by a secret ballot and by a clear majority of the 
votes cast. 

One of the councilors named by the King and one of the councilors named by 
the chambers shaJl retire each year. The councilors shall retire according to 
precedence resulting from time of service. 

The rank of those who may have been nominated on the same day shall be 
determined by drawing lots. The retiring councilors can be renominated. 

The functions of a councilor and of a member of the Chamber of Representa- 
tives or of the Senate are incompatible. 

The officials of the colonial administration in active service can not take part 
in the council. 

Art. 22. The colonial council shall consider all questions which the King 
may submit to it. 

Except in case of urgency the colanial council shall be consulted upon all 
proposed decrees. The drafts of the decrees shall be submitted to it by the 
King, accompanied by a statement of the reasons therefor. 

The council shall give its advice in the form of an argumentative report 
within the period fixed by its organic law. The report shall indicate the num- 
ber of the opposition, as well as their reasons therefor. 

If the draft of the decree submitted for the King's signature does not accord 
with the recommendations of the council, the minister of colonies shall add to 
it an expression of his views. 

If the council does not determine the matter within the period fixed by its 
organic law, the decree may be issued by the minister of colonies, accompanied 
by a statement of the reasons therefor. 

The report of the colonial council, and eventually the report of the minister 
of colonies, shall be published at the same time with the decree. 

The decrees issued in cases of urgency shall be submitted to the council 
within ten days from their date of issuance ; the reasons for the urgency should 
be indicated to it. The report of the council shall be published not later than 
one month after the transmission of the decree. 

Aet. 23. The colonial council shall ask from the Government all the instruc- 
tions which it may judge necessary in the prosecution of its work. 

It may express its views to it. 

Chapter V. — Concerning foreign relations. 

Art. 24. The King shall make all treaties relative to the colonies. 

The stipulations of article 68 of the Belgian constitution relative to treaties 
Bhall be applied to the treaties relating to the colony. 

Art 25. The minister for foreign affairs of the Kingdom is charged with 
the relations of Belgium with foreign powers in the subject of the colony. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 167 

Chaptee VI. — General provisions. 

Art. 26. The decisions rendered in civil and commercial matters by the Bel- 
gian courts having force in Belgium have in the colony the same "force and 
shall be executed in full right. 

All authenticated legal documents having force in Belgium shall have full 
force and right in the colony. 

The judgments rendered in civil and commercial matters by the courts sitting 
in the colony having force in the colony shall have in Belgium full force if they 
conform to the following conditions : 

First, that the decision shall not contain anything contrary to public order or 
to the principles of Belgian public law ; 

Second, that according to the colonial law it shall be in force and binding ; 

Third, that in accordance with the same law the copy that is exhibited shall 
contain the conditions necessary to their authenticity; 

Fourth, when the rights of the defendants have been respected. 

The decisions of the courts shall be executed by the civil tribunal; the 
arbitral judgments and authenticated legal documents by the president of the 
civil tribunal in the place where the execution must be put in force. 

The authenticated legal instruments having force in the colony shall have 
force in Belgium when they conform to the following conditions: First, when 
the provisions which it is sought to put in force have nothing contrary to public 
order or to the principles of Belgian public law ; second, when according to the 
colonial law they contain the conditions necessary to their authenticity. 

Art. 27. Anyone under charge of a breach of law committed in the colonies, 
and found in Belgium, may be taken and tried there by the Belgian tribunals, 
conformably with the colonial penal code, but according to the forms estab- 
lished by Belgian law. 

The investigating tribunal acting in the matter may return the person under 
charge to the 'colonial jurisdiction, either upon his request or by virtue of a 
unanimous decision rendered at a public sitting upon the requisition of the 
public prosecutor, the person charged being present or having been duly cited. 

Anyone under charge of a breach of law committed in Belgium, and found 
in the territory of the colonies, shall be delivered to the Belgian courts to be 
judged according to Belgian laws. 

The person charged, if the Belgian authorities have not requested his return, 
may be represented before the Belgian courts by special attorney. 

When the breach of the law consists of infractions committed partly upon 
Belgian territory and partly upon colonial territory, it shall be considered as 
having been committed in Belgium. 

When there are several accomplices, of which some are found in Belgian terri- 
tory and others in colonial territory, the Belgian tribunals only are competent. 

The tribunals competent to try the principals are equally competent to try 
the accomplices. 

The decisions rendered in penal matters by Belgian courts or colonial courts 
shall have in Belgian territory or in colonial territory the authority of a judg- 
ment, and shall have full force therein. 

Nevertheless, anyone condemned by the Belgian courts to an imprisonment 
of not less than six months in prison may serve said sentence in Belgium if he 
so requests. 

Art. 28. In all matters the notification of judicial and extrajudicial acts 
concerning persons domiciled or resident in the colony is subject in Belgium 
to the general rules relative to the notification of acts concerning persons domi- 
ciled or resident abroad. Nevertheless, the minister of colonies may intervene, 
if necessary, in representation of the minister for foreign affairs. 

Reciprocally, the notification of judicial and extrajudicial acts concemmg 
persons domiciled or resident in Belgium is subject in the colony to the general 
rules relative to the notification of acts concerning persons domiciled or resident 

The rogatory commissions emanating from competent Belgian and colonial 
authorities shall have full force in the territory of Belgium and in the colonial 
"I" pr V i i^ o r V 

Art 29 The members of the legislative chambers can not be, during their 
term of ofiice. paid functionaries, salaried employees, or attorneys for the colo- 
nial administration. , , i „.<! „:+i,„_ 

From the date of promulgation of the proposed law no member of either 
legislative chamber can be nominated, nor if he now occupies any of the said 
positions, at the expiration of the term of ofiice, be renommated a delegate of 



168 AFFAmS IN THE KONGO. 

the Government, an administrator, or a commissioner in stock companies which 
carry on iu Belgian Kongo enterprises with a lucrative object if these functions 
are in any way remunerative or if the State is a stockholder in the company. 

This last prohibition applies likewise to members of the colonial council, to 
the governor-general, to the magistrates, and to the functionaries in the service 
of the colonial government. 

Candidates for the legislative bodies, who exercise functions incompatible 
with the aforesaid legislative prohibition, although elected, may not be per- 
mitted to take the oath of office until they shall have resigned. 

The members of the legislative bodies can not be nominated to functions 
and employments referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 until at least one year 
after the termination of their term of office. Nomination to the office of 
governor-general or of vice-governor-general of the colony shall not be subjected 
to this delay. 

Aet. 30. The functionaries and Belgian army officers, authorized to accept 
employment in the colony, before as well as after annexation, preserve their 
rank and their right of advancement in the administration or the army which 
they may have temporarily abandoned. 

Belgian minors can not enlist in the colonial army without the written 
consent of their father, or of their mother when she is a widow, or, where they 
are orphans, of their guardian. In the last case tlie authorization ought to 
result from a family council. 

During the period of their active service the Belgian military conscripts can 
not be authorized to enlist m the colonial army, any authorization which may be 
given them in violation of the existing rule of law will be considered as null 
and void. 

Art. 31. Independently of the flag and the great seal of Belgium the colony 
of the Kongo may make use of the flag and the great seal of the Kongo State. 

Art. 32. The decrees, regulations, and other acts now in vigor will preserve 
their obligatory force, except when such provisions are contrary to the present 
law, in which case they are abrogated. 

Aet. 33. Each year, together with the proposed colonial budget, there shall 
be presented to the Chambers, in the name of the King, a report on the adminis- 
tration of the Belgian Kongo. 

This report will contain all the explanations necessai-y to enlighten the 
national legislative bodies in the political, economical, financial, and moral 
situation of the colony. 

It shall render account of the disposition during the fiscal year of the annuity 
providel for in article 4 of the additional act of the treaty of annexation of the 
Independent State of the Kongo to Belgium. 

Art. 34. After annexation the permanent magistrates, the functionaries, and 
all other agents of* the Independent State of the Kongo will preserve their posi- 
tions for the term and under the conditions provided in the contract of their 
engagements. 

No. 80. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 401.] American Legation, 

Brussels, September 18, 1908. 

Sir: I have the honor to report the adoption by the Belgian Senate 
of the treaty for the annexation of the Belgian Kongo and of the 
colonial law for the government thereof. 

I had expected to report this important event to the department at 
the time the vote was taken, but delayed doing so in anticipation of 
the completion of the legislation by the approval of the King. This is 
not yet forthcoming, and the best information which I can obtain is 
that it may be delayed a month yet. 

^Vhenever the treaty and the law shall have received the assent of 
the executive and is in its final form, the department will be informed 
of any changes that may have been made in the documents already in 
its possession. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



AFFAIES m THE KONGO. 169 

No. 81. 
The Belgian Minister to the Secretary of State. 

[Translation.] 

No. 652.] Legation of Belgium, 

Octoler 7, 1908. 

Mr. feECRETART OF State : I have the honor to transmit herewith to 
your excellency a copy of a pamphlet entitled " Belgique et Kono-o " 
published by the Federation for the defense of Bel^an inter'^sts 
abroad. 

The publication includes : 

1. The text of the treaty for the cession of the Independent State 
of the Kongo to Belgium and the text of the additional treaty. 

2. The speeches delivered on the occasion of the discussion of the 
treaty m the Belgian Chamber by Mr. Schollaert, minister of the 
interior, and Mr. Renkin, minister of justice. 

The pamphlet is accompanied by a resume setting forth the most 
interesting points in the two speeches. 

Accept, etc., Bn. Moncheur. 



[Inclosure.] 

The accompanying pamphlet « contains the text of the treaty whereby the 
Kongo State has been ceded to Belgium, and also an English translation of the 
speeches of the prime minister, Mr. Schollaert, and of the minister of justice, 
Mr. Renkin, on the subject. 

As will be observed, the prime minister has pointed out with great force 
and eloquence that in accepting King Leopold's generous gift Belgium has 
provided herself with a source of enormous colonial wealth, and by the terms 
of the annexation has given assurance that the colony shall be developed along 
lines which will guarantee a successful administration and which will secure 
the maximum amount of benefit to the native tribes as well as to the white 
colonist and trader. 

Special attention is called to some of the points about which there has been 
much popular misunderstanding and which are very clearly explained in the 
speeches of Mr. Schollaert and Mr. Renkin, viz : 

1. The Kongo State was not created by the Berlin conference, and its internal 
affairs are not subject to supervision by any other power. 

2. All the colonial powers in the Kongo basin are on an equality, and Belgium 
has the same sovereign rights and the same obligations in the Belgian Kongo 
as England has in British East Africa or as any other power has in its colonies 
in the Kongo basin. 

3. The concessions granted in the Belgian Kongo are on the same basis as 
the concessions granted by England, Germany, and otlier powers in the Kongo 
basin. The concessionary system is not subversive of the rights and liberties 
of the native, nor is it an obstacle to freedom of trade. On the contrary, it is a 
wise measure, adopted by all colonial governments to prevent ruinous and indis- 
criminate exploitation of the country and to safeguard the interests of the 
native populations as well as the governments. 

4. The land conceded in the Belgian Kongo only covers about one-fifth of the 
territory of the State. 

5. As in other colonies, unoccupied land has been declared government prop- 
erty, but the native has not been deprived of his land holdings and is not in 
any way prevented from freely selling the produce from his lands. 

6. No native can be compelled, or in any way constrained, to work for any 
concessionary company or individual. He is also paid for any work he does 
for the Government. 



^ Not printed. 



170 APFAmS IN THE KONGO. 

7. The question of native taxation is a difficult one. It is universally accepted 
by the nations of the earth, in practice and in theory, that the native popula- 
tion should bear part of the necessary burden of taxation. The Belgian Gov- 
ernment will deal with the question " with lirmness and with moderation." 

8. The Belgian Government will familiarize the native with the value and 
use of coins as rapidly as possible, so that he may pay his tax ($1.20 to $4.80) 
in currency instead of in work or in produce. 

9. In taking over the Kongo, Belgium not only takes over its assets and 
liabilities but also takes over its international treaty obligations, which it 
will scrupulously fulfill. Freedom of religion and freedom of trade will be 
carefully respected. Belgium will continue to protect the missionaries, of 
whatever faith or nationality they may be, and merchants of all nations may 
enter on an equal footing with Belgians. 

Mr. Renkin's speech contains an interesting exposition of the natural re- 
sources of the Kongo and shows the financial advantages which will accrue 
to Belgium by annexing the Kongo as a colony. He also calls attention to the 
fact that the fund of $10,000,000 which Belgium agrees to create for colonial 
purposes is not a gift or payment to the King, but is to be used in the interests of 
Belgium and her colony. This fund is to be paid over in fifteen annual install- 
ments. According to the final decision of the Belgian Parliament all orders for 
the disposition of this money must be countersigned by the minister of the 
colonies. The King has suggested using the first installment as follows : 
Five hundred thousand dollars for the colonial school ; $100,000 to Belgian 
missions ; $100,000 for hygienic measures, especially in combating the sleeping 
sickness ; $60,000 in aid of Belgians invalided home from Africa. 



No. 82. 



Minister Wilson to tlie Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Legation, 

Brussels, Octoler <B9, 1908. 
On Saturday, 31st, the King will create the department of col- 
onies and appoint Mr. Renkin minister for the colonies. 

On the same day will appear the royal decree provided in article 
4 of annexation treaty fixing the date of Belgian assumption of 
sovereignty over the Kongo. 

Wilson. 



No. 83. 

Afeica No. 5 (1908) : Cd. 4396. 

FuETHER Correspondence Respecting the Taxation of Natives, and Other 
Questions, in the Kongo State. 

[In continuation of "Africa No. 4 (1908) : " Cd. 4178.] 

No. 1. 

Bir Edivard Grey to Count de Lalaing. 

Foreign Office, Novem'ber 4, 1908. 
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith the reply of His ]\Iaiesty's Gov- 
ernment to the memorandum you were so good as to communicate to me on 

tfnr. nVi T J^'^'f ^.ZfT'"'}^ •"'' ^^^ ^^^^ J"^y ^^^^ relative to the annexa- 
tion of the Independent State of the Kongo by Belgium 

^ ^^^^' ^^^" ■ E. Grey. 



AFPAIES IN THE KONGO. 171 

[Inclosure in No. 1.] 
Memorandum. 

On the 13th July last the secretary of state for foreign affairs bad the 
honor to receive from the Belgian minister a memorandum containing the 
reply of the Belgian Government to the memorandum commuuicated to the 
Comte de Lalaing on the 23d June relative to the annexation of the Inde- 
pendent State of the Kongo by Belgium. In handing this memorandum to the 
secretary of state for foreign affairs the Belgian minister communicated at 
the same time a copy of the explanatory dispatch addressed to him by M. 
Davignon, who called attention therein to the manner in vs^hich the union of 
the Kongo State with Belgium under one sovereign had always been in con- 
templation, and observed that the Belgian Government could not see how the 
legitimate interests of Great Britain could possibly be injured by the annexa- 
tion of the Kongo. 

M. Davignon referred also to the question whether the Belgian Government 
are in reality bound by treaty to notify the fact of annexation of the Kongo 
to the other signatory powers of the Berlin treaty, and to the right of His 
Majesty's Government to malie reservations in regard to their acceptance of 
such annexation. 

In the memorandum itself the Belgian Government express their readiness, 
when annexation has actually taken place, to give prompt and full effect to the 
decree of the 3d June, 1906, with regard to increased grants of land to the 
natives for cultivation and trade purposes, and with regard to the holding of 
inquiries in the villages, in order to fix the extent of the lands to be reserved 
for the inhabitants. The Belgian Government go on to state that definite regu- 
lations will be drawn up for the sale of domain lands for the use of missionaries 
and traders, and that the greatest care will be taken to make the concessionary 
companies respect the liberty of the natives to work, as well as their right to 
dispose of the products of the lands assigned to them. 

With regard to arbitration, the Belgian Government undertake to give any 
proposals that may be made their most favorable consideration, subject, how- 
ever, to the consent of the Belgian chamber, and to the reservation that the 
points at issue do not concern the honor or national sovereignty of the country. 

The memorandum then proceeds to state that, having taken note of the 
repeated assurances of the Belgian Government in regard to their loyal and 
entire execution of their treaty obligations. His Majesty's Government will 
surely admit that they are now in receipt of all the guarantees which the 
Belgian Government are in a position to afford, and it concludes by observing 
that, in the opinion of the Eelsiian Government, the bept solution of all questions 
which may arise after annexation has taken place will be found in arriving at 
a direct understanding between all the powers having possessions in the con- 
ventional basin. 

With regard to the first point, the right, namely, of His jNIajesty s Govern- 
ment to make stipulations before assenting to the annexation of the Inde- 
pendent State by Belgium, His Majesty's Government observe that the Belgian 
Government, while stating that they do not wish to discuss the question whether 
article 34 of the Berlin act can be considered as being applicable in the present 
circumstances to Belgium, at the same time advance certain reasons, which, 
in their opinion militate against such applicability, and refer to the title given 
to Chapter VI of the Berlin act, " Declaration relative to the e?!--ential con- 
ditions to be observed in order that new occupations on the coasts of the 
African continent may be held to be effective," and the text of article 34, which 

runs as follows : . . ^ . ^^ , ^i ^^,„ 

"Any power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of laud on the 
coasts' of the African continent outside of its present possessions, or which, 
being hitherto without such possessions, shall acquire them as well as the 
power which assumes a protectorate there, shall accompany the respective act 
with a notification thereof, addressed to the other signatory powers of the 
present act, in order to enable them, if need be, to make good any claims of 

""^HisTaiesty's Government, however, desire to draw the especial attention of 
the Belgian Government to the expressions "new occupations '^"t^ 'W 
power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of land * outside 

fts m-erent possessions." The reasonable interpretation of these provisions 
seem'Ld t^Hi's Majesty's Government to be that the Belgian Government, which 



172 APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

had not previously had any possessions in the African continent, would, when 
acquiring such possessions, notify the fact to the other powers concerned. 

His Majesty's Government do not, however, wish to lay any undue stress 
upon the interpretation of any one particular article in any particular treaty. 
They desire rather to base on the more general grounds of international policy 
their claim to receive such information as will satisfy them that in the meas- 
ures which are to follow the transfer to another power of the vast territories 
of the Independent State full weight will be given to the representations which 
they have made, and which have throughout been conceived in the most friendly 

The territories of the Independent State touch those of His Britannic Maj- 
esty at many points, and it can not therefore be a matter of indifference to His 
Majesty's Government how they are governed, inasmuch as the maladminis- 
tration of any one State can not but react to the prejudice of its neighbors, 
more especially in a continent like Africa. 

Now, the manner in which the Independent State has hitherto been gov- 
erned has been notoriously different from that obtaining in neighboring terri- 
tories, and has for many years past caused great anxiety to His Majesty's Gov- 
ernment as bearing on the state of affairs on the Anglo-Kongolese frontier, and 
as giving rise to well-grounded fears lest it should injuriously affect the kindred 
tribes living in British territory. 

His Majesty's Government therefore consider that, if only on the ground of 
the manner in which the state of things prevailing in the Kongo State reacts on 
the native tribes under British rule, they are amply justified, now that there 
is a question of that State passing under a new government, in taking every 
possible precaution to secure that the new administration shall not repeat the 
fatal errors of the old, and in requiring a speciflc undertaking that the griev- 
ances of which they have so often complained shall be remedied within a rea- 
sonable period of time. 

But besides their right to secure the peace of their own borders. His Maj- 
esty's Government hold most strongly that the terms of the declarations ex- 
changed between the Government of her late Britannic Majesty and the Inter- 
national Association of the Kongo on the 16th December, 1884, entitle them, 
when the territories of the association are about to pass to a new owner, to 
satisfy themselves that the transfer will result in the introduction of a system 
of government which will correspond more nearly with the intentions of the 
signatories of those declarations and fulfill the conditions on which His Maj- 
esty's Government originally recognized the creation of the Kongo State. 

In the declaration of the association it is expressly laid down that it ha^ been 
founded " for the purpose of promoting the civilization and commerce of Africa, 
and for other humane and benevolent purposes ; " and in the declaration of 
His Britannic Majesty's Government it is stated that they " declare their sym- 
pathy with and approval of the humane and benevolent purposes of the associa- 
tion, and accordingly recognize its flag as the flag of a friendly government." 

It is thus obvious that the reason which chiefly determined the Government of 
her late Majesty Queen Victoria to recognize the flag of the association was the 
belief that the government of the association would prove a blessing to the 
native and an encouragement to general commerce. 

The whole tenor of the representations which His Majesty's Government have 
been making for the past few years to the Government of the independent state, 
and within the last few months to the Belgian Government, will show sufficiently 
that they are very far from being able to think that either of the objects has 
been attained. 

His Majesty's Government take note with satisfaction of the declaration of the 
Belgian Government, now renewed, that the international obligations contracted 
by the independent state will continue to bind its successor. In their opinion, 
however, these obligations have not so far been properly carried out, and in 
these circumstances it is not unreasonable that they should ask for some guar- 
antee that the system of government of which they have constantly complained 
will be changed. 

To pass now from the consideration of M. Davignon's dispatch, which has so 
far formed the subject of the present aide-memoire, to the study of the memo- 
randum inclosed therein, the following points appear to be those which are prin- 
cipally dealt with: 

(a) The extension of the lands to be assigned to the natives for the purposes 
of trade and cultivation; 



AFPAIKS IN THE KONGO. 173 

(&) The respect of the freedom of labor, as also of the right of the natives to 
dispose of the produce of the lands assigned to them; and fastlv 

(c) The question of arbitration in regard to "any differences' of view as to 
the meanmg of the treaties which bind the Kongo State in regard to commeicia^ 
methods" ^"^ understanding be unattainable by ordinary SSSfc 

With regard to (a) and (6) His Majesty's Government take note with great 
satisfaction of the assurances given by the Belgian Government, but, while fullv 
aware of the difficulty which must necessarily attend any immediate and violent 
change m the system hitherto pursued in regard to these points by the Kongo 
Government, they must at the same time express their disappointment that no 
indication is given in regard to the introduction in the near future of imnrove- 
ments in the existing conditions. 

His Majesty's Government have for a number of years past maintained that 
the practice pursued in these matters by the independent state has been at 
variance with the spirit of the Berlin act, and from that practice they beliej^e 
it to be incontestable that the natives, not to mention traders and missionaries 
have suffered severely. ' 

While noting, therefore, with pleasure the intention which the Belgian Gov- 
ernment express to put into force the decree of the 3d June, 1906, under which 
inquiries are to be instituted in the native villages, with a view to determine 
the extent of land to be allotted to the natives, and while admitting that it is 
at present impossible for the Belgian Government to fix a definite date within 
which satisfactory reforms on all these points can be completed, they feel bound 
to ask for more definite assurances than are furnished by the memorandum 
now under reply. 

They consider it, for instance, essential that some immediate amelioration 
should be introduced into the lot of the native population, which has for so 
long been suffering under the system of administration hitherto so unfortu- 
nately pursued by the authorities of the independent state. 

His Majesty's Government fully recognizes the firm intention of the Belgian 
Government to lighten the burden of the natives, but they are anxious to make 
quite clear what is, in their opinion, the essential point. An increase in the 
area of each village will certainly enable the tribe to shift the site as sanitary 
or other reasons dictate; it will give space for new cultivation while the old 
fields lie fallow ; it will prevent excessive wandering, and thereby lessen the 
risk of disputes with neighboring communities; it will check wasteful destruc- 
tion of the forest for purposes of cultivation ; it will be, in short, an adminis- 
trative measure which will facilitate the work of the executive, but it will not 
assist the native to any appreciable extent in trading in the natural products 
of the soil. From the information in the possession of His Majesty's Govern- 
ment it would seem that in the majority of cases the rubber in the vicinity of 
the villages is exhausted, and the natives have to go many hours, and often 
many days, to find the vines. If, therefore, the natives are to have a possibility 
of trading in the natural products of their country this condition of things 
calls for consideration, and it seems to His Majesty's Government that a means 
of meeting it already exists. 

From trustworthy information in the possession of His Majesty's Government 
it would appear that at the time when the present system of land tenure in 
the Kongo was initiated, and all lands were declared state property regardless 
of native rights, tribal landmarks were set up by the natives themselves in 
order to prevent the frequent local feuds caused by the members of one tribe 
trespassing in search of rubber into the territory of another. These tribal 
landmarks are still in existence throughout the Kongo territories, and are at 
the present time tenaciously adhered to by the native population; they would 
be at once available as indications of the lands within which the natives should 
be free to trade in all the natural products of the soil and to cultivate for their 
own use. Such a return to native communal tenure in land and produce, as 
it existed prior to 1891-92, would lead to a sensible and immediate alleviation 
of the unhappy condition in which at present the original inhabitants of the 
country find themselves, deprived, as they are, of all right to these same prod- 
ucts of the soil, which are the only means by which they can earn more than a 
bare subsistence, and with no protection either from the concessionary com- 
panies or the State in the shape of a guaranteed fair minimum price for the 
rubber or other produce gathered. They would thus be enabled to await with 
some patience the results of the fuller investigation into their rights which 
the Belgian Government promises, and which, as it will necessarily have to be 



174 AFFAIRS IN" THE KONGO. 

carried out by degrees in cooperation with tbe chiefs and people, must take 
& considerable time. His Majesty's Government understand, of course, that 
this investigation will deal not only with the area allotted to the concessionary 
companies, but with the whole territory of the State. 

His Majestv's Government have no wish to appear to dictate to the Belgian 
Government the exact lines on which that investigation should proceed. They 
believe, however, that it will not be found altogether useless if they summarize 
here the methods which have been employed by the different British colonial 
administrations in dealing with questions of a similar nature in British 
possessions. 

These methods have naturally varied, but, so far as the colonial possessions 
under the control of the colonial office are concerned, the underlying principle 
has been that just, amounting in some cases to very liberal, treatment should 
be meted out to the natives. 

On the west coast of Africa fairly well defined tribal divisions have existed 
almost from time immemorial, and government action has been generally con- 
fined to the maintenance of those divisions or to the adjustment of disputes 
when differences of opinion have arisen between tribes as to the actual position 
of their boundaries. 

In the East Africa Protectorate the circumstances are different. The popula- 
tion consists partly of quasinomad tribes, who shift their ground for grazing 
purposes at different times of the year, and partly of tribes who have definitely 
settled in cei'tain districts. There are also large tracts of land which are 
unoccupied. In the case of the tribes of the first class, the policy pursued by 
the British colonial office has been to leave them alone where they are not in 
proximity to the settled areas. When, as in the case of the Masai, their grazing 
grounds have been near the settled areas, and there was therefore a danger of 
friction between them and the white settlers, ample lands have, with their own 
concurrence, been given them elsewhere, which are guaranteed to them and 
their descendants as inviolable reserves. In the case of the nonnomadic tribes, 
the tribal possessions are scrupulously respected, as on the west coast of Africa. 
The Crown only deals with the unoccupied land outside the reserves and tribal 
possessions. 

In Uganda the whole question has been dealt with by agreement between the 
Government and the Kabaka chiefs and people of Uganda. 

Turning to South Africa, reserves have been assigned to the natives of 
Rhodesia for their exclusive use and occupation, and the Imperial Government 
have provided for a sufficiency of land, although the country was acquired by 
conquest. 

In Basutoland the natives are in entire possession of the whole of the land, 
with the exception of a few government and mission sites. It is, in fact, a vast 
native reserve. 

In Bechuanaland. where the natives were quasinomad, extensive reserves 
have been assigned to the leading chiefs for the occupation of the chiefs and 
their tribes. The land assigned is sufficient for all purposes and there is no 
discontent. 

Lastly, in the southern Pacific, immediately on the annexation of Fiji, the 
British Government assured the natives of the possession of the full property 
in all the lands which they occupied, and reserved for itself only such lands as 
were not in the actual occupation of any tribe or required for their support. 
As a matter of fact, although the native population has largely decreased since 
the annexation, no diminution has been made in the extent of the lands held 
by the natives, who now own upward of 4,000,000 acres, while their numbers 
do not exceed 100,000. All the boundaries were stated, at the time of taking 
over, to be known. 

To come to point (c) of the memorandum, the question, namely, of arbitration 
in regard to any divergence of views as to the meaning of the treaties which 
bind the Kongo State in regard to commercial questions in the event of its being 
impossible to arrive at an understanding by ordinary diplomatic methods. 

The memorandum states that, in the first place, the Belgian Government find 
it difficult to admit that Belgium alone among the powers signatory of the 
Berlin act is to give to one of those powers a general undertaking which would 
differ as regards arbitration from the principle laid down in article 12; further 
that if, after the annexation of the Kongo, the Belgian Government were to be 
invited to refer to the permanent tribunal of The Hague any dispute arising 
from a divergence of opinion as to the interpretation of the treaties binding 
the Kongo State, they would give the proposal their most favorable considera- 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 175 

tion. The memorandum states, lastly, that the Belgian Government hold that 
the Belgian constitution would oblige the Belgian Government to submit for the 
approval of Parliament any proposal for arbitration in regard to questions of 
a commercial character, as well as those of which the settlement would affect 
either the finances of the State or the private interests of Belgian subjects 

From the remarks on the subject, of which the above is a summary con- 
tained in the memorandum under reply, His Majesty's Government fear that 
the paragraph of the British memorandum of the 23d June last, to which they 
are in reply, was not expressed as clearly as might have been desired. 

It will be seen on reference to the memorandum referred to that it may be 
divided into two parts— one dealing with the rights of the natives of the inde- 
pendent state, and one which is concerned solely with such articles of the 
treaties binding the Kongo State as bear on commercial questions. With 
regard to the first, the memorandum clearly laid down that while His 
Majesty's Government were not disposed unduly to press the Belgian Govern- 
ment in connection with the settlement of questions of a highly complicated 
nature, they at the same time considered these questions to be of such a nature 
that they were unable to engage to recognize the transfer of the iudejiendent 
state to Belgium until they had received an assurance that these questions 
would be settled in a manner satisfactory both to them and to public opinion in 
this country. 

With regard to the second part of the memorandum which dealt with the 
purely commercial obligations of the Kongo State under its treaties, His 
Majesty's Government merely asked that the Belgian Government would give 
a formal assurance that they would not refuse, if invited to do so, to refer 
to arbitration any ditferences of view as to the meaning of those articles in 
the treaties binding the Kongo State which bear on commercial questions. 
His Majesty's Government take note with satisfaction of the desire of the 
Belgian Government to affirm the sympathy which it has always felt for 
arbitration ; thej^ would raise no objection to the method preferred by the 
Belgian Government of settling disputes by direct understanding between all 
the powers having possessions in the conventional basin. But they observe 
that such a method of settling a dispute between any two powers is not prac- 
ticable except by the agreement of the other powers in question; and in the 
event of the method proposed by the Belgian Government not proving prac- 
ticable or conclusive within a reasonable time His Majesty's Government 
must reserve their full liberty to press for arbitration. 

Finally, His Majesty's Government trust that the Belgian Government will 
have no difiiculty in giving an assurance that equal facilities will be given 
to Christian missionaries of all denominations for the prosecution of their 
work and the free exercise of their religion, both by themselves and their 
converts, in all parts of the Kongo territory. 

The friendship between the two nations, of which there has been constant 
evidence in the course of the present discussion, inspires His Majesty's Gov- 
ernment with the hope that such assurances on all the points under discussion 
will be forthcoming as will still further increase and strengthen those ties of 
amity to whose continued existence His Majesty's Government attach so high 
a value. 

FoEEiGN Office, Novem'ber 1, 1908. 



No. 2. 
Count de Lalaing to Sir Edward Grey.— {Received November 17.) 

[Translation.] 

Belgian Legation, 
London, November 16, 1908. 
M LE Secretaire d'Etat : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
excellencv's note of the 11th November, in which you were good enough to 
fXrm me of your intention to communicate to Parliament the memorandum of 
Se iTt No^^m'ber containing the reply of His Britannic Majesty's Government 
to the memorandum of the King's Government dated the 12th July last. 

In the course of the preceding negotiations the two governments had come to 
an i-ieement with a view to the simultaneous publication and submission to the 
Paiaraments orthe two countries of the diplomatic memoranda exchanged be- 



176 AFFAIBS IN THE KONGO. 

tween London and Brussels on the subject of the annexation of the Independent 
State of the Kongo by Belgium. 

It seems to the King's Government that it might have been preferable to 
follow the same procedure, and in order to supply the Belgian and British 
Chambers with simultaneous information, to lay before the two chambers both 
the requests put forward and the answers thereto. 

My Government will not fail to communicate to your excellency a reply to 
the British Government's memorandum of the 1st November, the very friendly 
tone of which it deservedly appreciates. But time will be needed for the 
preparation of this reply, which has already been put in hand, owing to the 
transference of authority from the government of the Kongo State to the 
Belgian Government, and to the still incomplete organization of the ministry 
for "the colonies, which has to furnish the ministry for foreign affairs with some 
of the data required for the said reply. 

I am instructed to request your excellency to be so good as to publish, if you 
think it possible, the present letter at the same time as the memorandum of the 
1st November addressed to the King's Government, 

I take, etc., Lalaing. 

No. 84. 

•» 

Tlie Minister of Belgium to the Secretary of State. 

No. 737.] Legation of Belgium, 

Washington^ November 4, 1908. 

Mr. Seceetary of State : Pursuant to my Government's orders I 
have the honor to advise your excellency that the law approving the 
treaty for the resumption of the Independent State of the Kongo by 
Belgium was promulgated and published in the Moniteur Beige of 
October 20 last, a copy of which is inclosed herewith. 

In consequence whereof the sovereign powers of the State of the 
Kongo are now transferred to Belgium, Avhich will very soon assume 
the administration of the colony of the Kongo. 

The Belgian Government will promptly issue new exequaturs to 
consular officers of the Governments which request it. 

The Belgian authorities in the colony will hereafter have juris- 
diction in business to be transacted with the said officers concerning 
their respective governments and nationals. 

Accept, Mr. Secretary of State, the assurance of my very high 
consideration. 

Bn. Moncheue. 



[Inclosures.] 

Moniteur Beige, October 20, 1908, containing laws, royal decrees, and gov- 
ernment acts as follows : 

1. Law effecting the transfer to Belgium of the Independent State of the 
Kongo. (Not printed.) 

2. Treaty of cession of the Independent State of the Kongo to Belgium. 
Printed with Mr. Wilson's No. 261, December 7, 1907. 

3. Provisional arrangement for expenditures. (Not printed.) 

4. Additional provisions to the treaty of cession. (Not printed.) 

5. Convention between the Iloly See and the Independent State of the 
Kongo, May 2G, 1906. (Not printed.) 

6. Law approving additional act to the treaty of cession. (Not printed.)' 

7. Additional act to the treaty of cession. (Not printed.) 

8. Decree suppressing the foundation of the Crown. (Not printed.) 

9. Annexes to the additional act to the treaty of cession. (Not printed ) 

10. Credits of the foundation. (Not printed.) 

•'■■'^•J'VJ governing the Belgian Kongo. (Not printed, but for text see inclo- 
sure to Mr. Wilson's No. 393, August 21, 1908, translation of the law.) 



AFPAIES IN THE KONGO. 177 

No. 85. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 422.] American Legation, 

Brussels, November 10, 1908.^ 

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith copy and translation 
of a note from Mr. Davignon, the Belgian minister for foreign 
affairs, conveying the official information of the issuance of the 
royal decree carrying into execution article 4 of the treaty of annexa- 
tion of the Kongo to Belgium, and fixing the date on which the Gov- 
ernment of the King will assume the exercise of sovereignty over its 
colonial possessions. 

A copy of this note has of course been furnished to all of the lega- 
tions accredited to Brussels and the communication is therefore, in 
some sense, a circular note. 

The British minister, Sir Arthur Hardinge, believes that the note 
does not properly require an answer, and he has made none. My own 
opinion is different, and I have thought it proper to make courteous 
acknowledgment of the communication, while in no way committing 
our Government. A copy of my note of reply is herewith transmitted. 



I have, etc., 



Henry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure 1. — Translation.] 
The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Minister Wilson. 

Mr. MiNiSTEK : A royal decree, carrying into execution article 4 of tlie treaty 
of annexation of the Independent State of the Kongo to Belgium, has fixed on 
the 15th of this month as the date on which the Government of the King will 
assume the exercise of sovereignty in its colonial possessions. 

On the eve of assuming the direction of the affairs of the colony which will 
be of interest to the powers, I beg to assure your excellency that my most 
lively desire will be to continue, whenever your excellency will have occasion 
to transact business with this department, the excellent relations which, I 
congratulate mvself, I have always had with you. 

I am, on my side, certain of the kindly assistance which your excellency 

will give me with this end in view. ^ ^ 

J. Davignon. 



[Inclosure 2.] 
Minister Wilson to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

November 6, 1908. 
Mr Minister: I have the honor to acknowledge your excellency's esteemed 
note of November 6 conveying the information that "ae jyal cle^ car™ 
into execution the provisions of article 4 of the treaty of 'Jf^^^^^^J*^^^^^^^ 
for issuance on the 15th of November, on which date the Government ot the 
TCino' will issnme sovereignty over its colonial possessions. 

HihlY apprSaSngyom- excellency's courteous express ons while bringing 

asked for instructions therein. ^^^^^ ^^^^ Wilson. 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 12 



178 AITAmS IN THE KONGO. 

No. 86. 

Consul-General Handley to the Secretary of State. 

N"o. 8.] American Consulate-General, 

Boma,, November ^4, 1908. 

Sir: I have the honor to report that Mr. W. Thesiger, British 
consul at Boma, returned from his trip of investigation of conditions 
in the Kasai district, particuLarly that of the Kasai Company, on 
September 9, after spending four months in the interior. The latter 
part of the month he sent to his Government an exhaustive report 
on the conditions as he found them in that district. I have been 
able to secure from him considerable information relative to the 
present state of affairs in that part of the Kongo, and herewith sub- 
mit, for the information of the ctepartment, a summary of the informa- 
tion obtained: 

The Kasai Company came into existence in December, 1901, by a 
convention or agreement between the directors of the company and 
the Independent'State of the Kongo, its object being to gather rubber, 
gum copal, and all other vegetable products in the enormous dis- 
trict known as " the Kasai." This privilege was granted for a term of 
thirty years, and it is, I believe, the largest and most important of 
the concessionary companies now doing business in the Kongo Free 
State. 

Mr. Thesiger found that in the company's dealings with the native 
population they habitually disregard the state regTilations for the 
prevention of willful waste of the rubber resources of the country 
and cast aside every restriction imposed upon them for the purpose of 
safeguarding the native rights. That this systematic violation of the 
Kongo Free State laws can not be carried on without the knowledge 
of the directors of the company and that it would be impossible but 
for the willful blindness, if not actual connivance, of the state officials 
themselves. 

He declares that in all the country through which he passed, where 
this company has established posts, their agents have issued orders 
that the vines are to be cut and not tapped, as in the past, the quan- 
tity of rubber procurable from the latter method not being suffi- 
ciently large to satisfy the greed of the company. 

There are stringent laws against this cutting of the rubber vines 
and state forest inspectors Avho are supposed to report to the authori- 
ties all cases which come under their notice. 

Referring to the wdiolesale destruction of the vines now going on 
unchecked he says : " In the 31 villages which I visited in the Bakuba 
district they sent in monthly 173,000 balls of rubber, weighing on an 
average from 22 to 28 pounds per 1,000, and that experience shows 
that it takes from 20 to 40 feet of vine to make 10 balls." 

Although the Kasai Company claims that all their rubber is made 
by voluntar\^ labor; that it is in no way a tax, and that their agents 
have neither the right nor the power to force the native to bring it in, 
the consul claims that " each village is taxed at so many balls a 
month and that any shortage is punished by imprisonment', fines, or 
chicotte--^ while the amount fixed is so high that the natives, espe- 

"' Flogging. 



APFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 179 

cially the Bakuba, have no time to cultivate their fields, repair their 
houses, hunt, or fish." 

V^Oiile the company also deny the employment of armed sentries, 
he declares " they have in every village or group of villages one or 
more capitas,'^ who are, with few exceptions, all armed with cap guns. 
It may be mentioned that the villagers have to supply gratis to these 
capitas food, palm wine, a house, and a woman." 

The Free State law prohibits the carrying of cap guns by the 
capitas or native agents of companies who have to deal with the 
natives in commercial matters. 

No trader or commercial agent has any right to punish a native 
by imprisonment or by flogging. In this regard the consul savs 
" that the Kasai Company agents not only punish the natives in these 
and other ways for any shortage in the month's supply of rubber but 
allow their native capitas to usurp the same powers in the fullest 
measure in the villages under their charge. I heard of three cases 
in which these capitas imprisoned women in order to bring pressure 
upon the men." 

Referring to the military raids to enforce the collection of rubber, 
Mr. Thesiger states that " the company forces Lukengu, a powerful 
king of the Bakubas, to carry out these raids for them with his 
native soldiers, who, to the number of some 300 or more, are all 
armed with cap guns; these soldiers can be met with all over the 
Bakuba territory, scouring the country for the purpose of enforcing 
the rubber tax, making prisoners and collecting fines for the benefit 
of the Kasai Company." He mentions two incidents of these raids. 
Summarizing the foregoing it will thus be seen that in five different 
ways: (1) By cutting the vines, (2) by imposing taxes for the bene- 
fit of the company, (3) by employing armed sentries, (4) by punish- 
ing natives without legal authority, (5) by causing military raids 
to be made to force the natives to make rubber, the Kasai Company is, 
for the sake of profit, deliberating breaking the laws of the State; 
the laws of humanity are still less regarded. 

In the Bakuba country he found everywhere, except in the villages 
exempt for some special reason, that the rubber tax was so heavy that 
the villagers had no time to attend to the necessities of life, and many 
of the capitas told him that they had orders not to allow the natives 
to clear the ground for cultivation, to hunt, or to fish, as it took up 
time which should be spent in making rubber. Even so, in some cases, 
the natives can only comply with the demands made on them by 
utilizing the labor of the Avomen and children. In consequence their 
huts are falling to ruin, their fields are uncultivated and are fast 
being overgrown by brush, and the people are short of food. 

This district was formerly so rich in corn and millet and other 
foodstuffs that the mission of Luebo used in the old days to send 
there and buy maize for their workmen ; now, as regards cultivation, 
he says " It is alm^ost a desert and my carriers often had difficulty in 
procuring sufficient food. The rainy season was approaching and 
everywhere the complaint was made that the men were not allowed to 
utilize the few remaining weeks in clearing new ground for the 
sowing of next year's crop. This means f.hat m the comings year 
there will be an increased shortage of food." 

o Native corporals. 



180 APFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

With regard to the position of the Government in reference to these 
abuses, he states : " They must either confess their utter incompetency 
to enforce their own laws, so far as these companies are concerned, 
or confess their complicity in these practices." 

The consul met several of the younger officials who, he thinks, 
would willingly use what power they have to put an end to this state 
of things, but they are to a large extent powerless in the face of the 
central authority, which does not overlook the fact that it holds 50 
per cent of the shares in the Kasai Comjaany, which is, under its 
present methods, making a profit of some 8,000,000 francs yearly. 

Much credit is taken by the state and company for the abolition 
of the tax in " croisettes," '^ " but this tax," the consul affirms, " has 
been supplanted by still more unjustifiable methods of extortion, and 
I have no hesitation in affirming that the Kasai Company, even if 
judged by Kongo Free State law, has justly forfeited every right to 
the privileges granted them by the government in December, 1901, 
and that no methods of reform or change of administration will be 
of any real benefit to the people of this district unless it includes the 
entire abolition of this company, which has so long been held up as a 
model of what a concessionary company should be." 

It is impossible in this short summary to deal at any length with 
the question of domestic slavery, which is generally known to pre- 
vail throughout the Kasai district. Suffice it to say that the State is 
taking no real measures to insure its extinction within a reasonable 
time. Under the pretext that slavery being abolished by decree there 
can be no slaves in the Kongo, they will not take any measures to 
insure to the slave the power of redeeming himself and refuse to 
acknowledge any written certificate of redemption to have any legal 
value. Slaves who have purchased their redemption are therefore 
always liable to recapture, and this recapture is made easy for the 
owner by the chefferie law, under which state agents and state soldiers 
ar& employed, as in a recent case in Luebo, to assist native chiefs in 
capturing any man whom they may declare to belong to them. 

Domestic slavery is distinctly profitable to the State and to em- 
ployers of labor; as so long as a tribe is well provided with slaves 
their chiefs will always be ready to respond to any demand made to 
them with the authority of the local official, for carriers or workmen. 
It is also profitable to the owner, who receives a large percentage of 
the wages earned by the slaves thus hired out. 

One way to insure the gradual extinction of this evil would be to 
recognize openly its existence, and to provide every facility to the 
native to redeem himself at a fixed moderate price, and to give him 
an official certificate that he has purchased his freedom. 

Many of the violations of law and abuses that the consul has 
referred to in the foregoing report have been the subject of corre- 
spondence between this consulate-general and the American mission- 
aries who are stationed at Luebo. Other consular officers here have 
reported to their governments the prevailing conditions existing in 
the Kasai district, and some of the missionaries have vigorously pro- 
tested to the vice-governor-general at Boma, yet the prevailing opin- 
ion is that no special consideration, arriving at a thorough and un- 

" Small copper crosses used in the Kasai district in payment for rubber. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 181 

biased investigation of these conditions, has been manifested by the 
authorities. 

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 

Wm. W. Handley, 
American Consul- General. 
[The British report is printed in Africa, No. 1 (1909) Cd. 4466.] 



No. 87. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 429.] American Legation, 

Brussels^ November ^7, 1908. 

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith three copies of No. 2 
of the Official Bulletin of the Belgian Kongo, which contains the 
decree °' organizing the colonial council of Belgium. 

The principal points of this decree are as follows : 

First. Provision is made that the minister for colonies shall be 
president of the council ; if the latter is absent or unable to preside, 
his duties shall be discharged by the secretary-general or by a director- 
general designated for that purpose. 

Second. A secretary appointed by the King is attached to the 
council as a consulting member. He shall make the proces-verbal of 
the meetings and sign the same after their approval by the council. 

The secretary and the members of the council are to be paid a 
monetary compensation with free transportation on the railways to 
and from the place of meeting. 

Third. The department of. colonies must transmit to the office of 
the secretary all proposed decrees and, in general, all questions which 
the King may desire to submit to the examination of the council. It 
shall also transmit, within ten days following their issuance, the 
decrees issued in cases of urgency. 

Fourth. The council must make its report within one month from 
the day on which its first sitting occurs. 

Fifth. The council has the right to take definite decisions when a 
majority of its members is present, but such decision shall be valid 
only when a majority of the regular members is present. 
I have, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



No. 88. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 434.1 American Legation, 

Brussels^ December 3, 1908. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith copies of the official 
report « of the session of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives of 

<* Not printed. 



182 AFFATKS IN THE KONGO. 

November 24, which contains the proposed budget for the administra- 
tion of the Belgian Kongo, rf.. r. A.r. J- 

The proposed budget appropriates 962,450 francs or $192,450 tor 
the central or Belgian administration, to be met by a charge against 
the revenue of the foundation of the crown; 36,094,036 francs or 
$7,218,807 for the current expenses of the local or active administra- 
tion of the Kongo, to be met by a charge against the receipts thereof, 
and 8,423,300 francs or $1,684,660 for the extraordinary expenses 
growing out of the treaty of annexation, to be met by a loan. 

A tabulated statement « showing the purposes to which the respec- 
tive items of $7,218,807 and $1,684,660 will be applied accompanies 
the " expose des motifs " « of the minister. This includes the extra- 
ordinary expenses incurred under the treaty of annexation, salaries 
for civil and military employees, and all of the other expenses 
which would naturally accompany the installation and maintenance 
of a new regime in the Kongo. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 

No. 89. 

Ths Secretary of State to the Minister of Belgium. 

Department of State, 
Washington, January 11, 1909. 

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of 
the 4th of November last, transmitting a copy of the Moniteur Beige 
in which is published the law approving the treaty by which Belgium 
takes over the sovereignty of the Independent State of the Kongo, 
and stating the Belgian authorities in the colony will hereafter trans- 
act business with consular officers, to whom new exequaturs will be 
issued if their governments so desire. 

The Government of the United States has observed with much 
interest the progress of the negotiations looking to such a transfer, 
in the expectation that under the control of Belgium the condition 
of the natives might be beneficially improved and the engagements 
of the treaties to which the United States is a party, as well as the 
high aims set forth in the American memoranda of April 7 and 16, 
1908, and declared in the Belgian replies thereto, might be fully 
realized. 

The United States would also be gratified by the assurance that 
the Belgian Government will consider itself specifically bound to 
discharge the obligations assumed by the Independent State of the 
Kongo in the Brussels convention of July 2, 1890, an assurance which 
the expressions already made ,by the Government of Belgium in 
regard to its own course as a party to that convention leave no doubt 
is in entire accordance with the sentiments of that Government. 
Among the particular clauses of the Brussels convention which seem 
to the United States to be specially relevant to existing conditions in 
the Kongo region are the clauses of Article II, which include among 
the objects of the convention — 

To diminish intestine wars between tribes by means of arbitration; to initiate 
them in agricultural labor and in the industrial arts so as to increase their wel- 

<* Not printed. 



APFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 183 

fare ; to raise them to civilization and bring about ttie extinction of barbarous 
customs, * * * 

To give aid and protection to commercial enterprises; to watch over their 
legality by especially controlling contracts for service with natives, and to pre- 
pare the way for the foundation of permanent centers of cultivation and of 
commercial settlements. 

The United States has been forced to the conclusion that in several 
respects the system inaugurated by the Independent State of the 
Kongo has in its practical operation worked out results inconsistent 
with these conventional obligations and calling for very substantial 
and even radical changes in order to attain conformity therewith. 
The operation of laws requiring the natives who have little or no 
money to pay taxes in labor appears to have resulted in reducing the 
natives in certain large portions of the territory of the Independent 
State of the Kongo to a condition closely approximating actual 
slavery. The granting of concessions to various private corpora- 
tions and associations, giving to them exclusive rights of exploitation 
of very large tracts of territory, and the inclusion of a very great 
part of the remaining territory of the country in the domain declared 
to be owned in severalty, and described in various official acts as 
domaine prive, domaine public, domaine national, and domaine de la 
couronne, has the practical effect of excluding the greater part of 
the territory of the State from the possibility of purchase and of 
rendering nugatory the provisions of the declaration of 1884, under 
which the International Association of the Kongo granted " to 
foreigners settling in their territories the right to purchase, sell, ov 
lease lands and buildings situated therein, establish commercial 
houses, and to there carry trade upon the sole condition that they 
shall obey the laws," and the similar provisions of the treaty of 
January 24, 1891, between the Independent State of the Kongo and 
the United States of America assuring to the citizens of the United 
States the right to freely exercise their industry or their business 
in the whole extent of the territories of the Independent State, and 
the right to erect there religious edifices and to organize and main- 
tain missions, and the provisions of the Brussels convention of July 
2, 1800, imposing upon the Independent State of the Kongo the duty 
to prepare the way for the foundation of permanent stations of 
cultivation and of commercial settlements, and to protect the 
missions which w^ere then or might thereafter be established. The 
effect of these dispositions of territory has been to withdraw from 
sale, and therefore from occupancy for the purposes described, the 
Greater part of the area of the Independent State and prevent the 
exercise of the rights conferred by the conventional stipulations 

referred to. 

The effect of the same preemption of territory has also been to 
withdraw from the natives in a great degree the enjoyment of those 
benefits which they formerly derived from their customary tribal 
rights over large tracts. In a country where there has been no 
ownership of land in severalty by the natives, but only coimmmal 
ownership of rights over extensive tracts, to allot to the Government 
and its concessionnaires ownership in severalty to all the lands not 
already owned and held in severalty is m effect to deprive the natives 
of their rights to the soil, and this has been in a great measure the 
effect of the system which has been followed in the Independent 
State of the Kongo. 



184 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

The Government of the United States is much gratified to know 
that since the American memoranda of April 7 and April 16, 1908, 
the Government of Belgium has expressed its purpose to extend the 
area of the lands to be assigned to the natives for their cultivation 
and traffic pursuant to the royal decree of June 3, 1906, and it con- 
fidently expects that the restoration of land to the natives will be 
commensurate with the value of the communal rights of which they 
have been deprived hitherto, and will put the natives in a position 
by means of adequate provision out of their own territory to realize 
the benefits which were contemplated by the arrangement under 
which the title and control over the territory of the Independent 
State of the Kongo was vested in that State for the humanitarian 
purpose of improving the condition of the natives and securing to 
them the blessings of civilization. 

It should always be remembered that the basis of the sovereignty 
of the Independent State of the Kongo over all its territory Avas in 
the treaties made by the native sovereigns who ceded the territory for 
the use and benefit of free states established and being established 
there under the care and supervision of the International Associa- 
tion, so that the very nature of the title forbids the destruction of 
the tribal rights upon which it rests without securing to the natives 
an enjoyment of their land which shall be a full and adequate equiva- 
lent for the tribal rights destroyed. 

It may be timely to revert in this relation to the hope expressed in 
the American memorandum of April 16, 1908, that the Belgian Gov- 
ernment may see its way clear to accept frankly and promptly the 
proposition to refer to arbitration all purely commercial and eco- 
nomic questions, as being a procedure entirely in accordance with 
the rapidly growing practice of civilized nations; and to the state- 
ment in the Belgian memorandum in reply, dated July 24, 1908, that 
the Bel^an Government finds no difficulty in declaring that if, after 
annexation, it were invited to refer to the tribunal of The Hague, as 
a last resort, a difference arising from a divergence of appreciation 
in the interpretation of the treaties which bind the States of the 
Kongo, it would examine the proposition with special benevolence 
and be inspired by the broad views which guided it in the drafting 
of the arbitration treaties concluded by Belgium. 

The scope of this declaration would, however, seem to be abridged 
by the considerations which follow it in the Belgian memorandum 
reply. These seem to limit the aj^plicability of such eventual arbitra- 
tion to questions under the collective act of Berlin; to require the 
joining in the arbitration of other powers holding possessions in the 
Kongo basin ; and to advocate, in place of a recourse to arbitration, 
the attainment of a direct understanding for the settlement of dis- 
putes " in the commercial basin of the Kongo among all the powers 
holding territories in that region." It is not to be lost sight of that 
the United States has a direct commercial interest in the particular 
territory of the Independent State of the Kongo bv reason of its 
treaty with that State of January 21, 1891, which, besides pledging 
specified rights of commerce and intercourse, gives to the United 
States, as well as to its citizens, the right to the treatment of the 
most-favored nation. This consideration may seem to have been 
overlooked in the Belgian memorandum reply," which, in conclusion, 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 185 

answers the expectation of the United States that, in virtue of its ex- 
isting treaties, it will obtain all the privileges, commercial and other- 
wise, accorded in the Kongo to other nations by the statement that 
" when it annexes the possessions of the Independent State, Belgium 
will inherit its obligations as well as its rights; it will be able to fulfill 
all the engagements made with the United States by the declarations 
of April 22, 1884." It would be gratifying to the United States to 
know that the last clause of the statement just quoted is not intended 
to confine the rights of the United States in the Independent State to 
the declarations of the Commercial Association which preceded the 
creation of the Kongo State as a sovereign power, but includes the 
conventional rights conferred upon the United States by the treaty 
concluded with the Independent State immediately after its 
recognition. 

In the absence of a fuller understanding on all these points, I con- 
fine myself for the present to acknowledging your note of the 4th of 
November last and taking note of the announcement therein made. 

Be pleased to accept, sir, the assurance of my high consideration. 

Elihu Root. 



No. 90. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 449.] American Legation, 

Brussels^ January 26, 1909. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a translation of the 
reply made in the German Eeichstag by the foreign secretary, Herr 
von Schoen, to an interpellation as to the attitude of Germany to- 
ward the question of the annexation of the Kongo by Belgium. 

I am sending this translation, thinking that possibly it might not 
have been forwarded from Berlin. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 

[Inclosure. — TranslatioB.] 

In the budget committee of the Reichstag on Friday the German foreign 
secretary, Herr von Schoen made the following statement in reply to a national 

Liberal question : ,, ^ ^.^ xi • ^^ +i,« 

The Belgian Government has informed us that after the passmg of the 
colonial law by Parliament, and the granting of the royal assent to it, the 
sovereign power of the Kongo State was transferred to Belgium on November 
15 last We have taken note of this communication; the annexation of the 
Koneo State by Belgium has thereby become for us also an accomplished fact. 
Our attitude in the question of annexation, which is nearly as old as the Kongo 
State itself, has remained unchanged from the beginning and has been one of 
reserve thi;)ughout. We have always considered it a domestic question for 
Belgium The existing treaties-that with the International Kongo Association 
November 8 18S4, and the general acts of the Berlin conference-gave us no 
ri^ht^o a voice in the matter. The first of these treaties deals expressly with 
ie cessio/of the teiTifo^y of the association (subsequently the Kongo State) 



186 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

the Kongo State, more especially with regard to our frontier claims. The cir- 
cumstance that Germany for the reasons just given, and on account of our 
friendly relations with our neighbor, Belgium has made no difficulties in the 
taking over of the Kongo, does not show that, as a signatory of the Berlin act, 
Germany approved of all that took place in the former Kongo State. We also 
had a great deal to find fault with in the conditions previously existing there, 
but we have always assumed, and we are still convinced, that under Belgian 
rule a cleansing process of the conditions which have so often been publicly 
denounced will ensue. 



No. 91. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 462.] American Legation, 

Brussels^ Fehruary 1,9, 1909. 
Sir : In transmitting by this pouch the " Bulletin Officiel du 
Congo « Beige 2e annee. No. 4," I have the honor to call the attention 
of the department to that part of the publication which contains the 
regulations and stipulations governing the rental and sale of certain 
lands of the Belgian Kongo. This is of especial significance as indi- 
cating the inauguration of the government's policy relative to public 
land. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



Report of the colonial council on the projet of a decree relative to the sale 
and lease of lands in the Kongo. 

The projet of a decree submitted to the colonial council for its advice is 
intended to authorize a call of public proposals : 

A. For the sale, and incidentally the lease, of a block of land measuring 
33 hectares, situated in Bolombo, district of the Bengala. 

B. For a thirty years' lease, with right of renewal, three blocks measuring, 
respectively, 100 hectares, 150 hectares, and 250 hectares in the banana region. 

C. And of two blocks measuring 500 hectares each, situated in the Ponta 
da Lenha region. 

In addition to these lands the administration, according to the statement 
of reasons, will simultaneously put up for auction six other lots, also situated 
in the district of the Bengala, measuring each 10 hectares at the most. 

The fundamental idea which inspired this projet was briefly set forth by the 
minister of the colonies at the session of December 28, 1909 : 

" The Kongo administration," said he, " has often been reproached with seeking 
to reserve to itself a monopoly of real estate. The Belgian Government wishes 
to show at once that it is disposed to alienate the lands." 

This declaration immediately secured for the principle of the decree the 
unanimous approval of the council, which thereafter confined itself to the 
examination of the following practical details : 

NATIVE CLAIMS. 

The attention of the council was drawn in the first instance to the question 
of whether, under the provisions of existing legislation, the colony had the 
right to dispose of the three blocks of land which it proposed to put up for sale 
or lease. 

One of the members observed that the council did not possess proof of the 
fulfillment of the formalities prescribed by the instructions of September 8, 
1906, relative to the determination and certification of the extent and nature 
of the claims of the natives to the domain lands put up at public auction. 

* Printed in part. See inclosures. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 187 

In reply to this observation the minister of the colonies stated that he could 
not give assurances that the investigations had resulted in abstracts consti- 
tuting perfect titles for deposit in the land office. But he added that the admin- 
istration had had a summary investigation made to ascertain whether the lands 
covered by the decree had any claim of title existing on behalf of the natives, 
and that the result of this investigation showed that these claims were 
nonexistent. 

The minister of the colonies stated that there were three kinds of land— those 
to which there are absolute titles, those to which the titles are not yet estab- 
lished, and those to which there is no claim of property nor any claim of title 
whatsoever. The lands imt up for sale belong only to this last category. 

In noting this declaration one of the members expressed the opinion that in 
the future it should be necessary to require that proof of the fulfillment of the 
measures taken to insure the certification and determination of native claims 
to the lands to be sold or leased should be furnished to the council in the man- 
ner prescribed by the governmental instructions of September S, 1908. He 
added that he made a general reservation with regard to the triple classification 
referred to by the minister of the colonies. 

CHOICE OF LANDS. 

The land contained in blocks B and C was put up at auction, at the instance 
of a Brussels manufacturer, who desired to lay out a palm and cocoanut 
plantation. 

No objection was raised to the selection of this land; hesitation was shown, 
however, with regard to the putting up at auction of block A in the Bangala 
region, which, according to the statement of reasons, " did not appear to be 
the object of any request for acquisition or lease on the part of anyone." 

From the first declarations of the minister of the colonies it appeared that 
the offer of the land contained in this block had for object the immediate culti- 
vation in the upper Kongo of certain tropical products in a limited area. 

Several members expressed the opinion that the very limited area and situa- 
tion of this block were not appropriate for agricultural cultivation, and that 
it was to be feared that the eventual failure of a first experiment of this nature 
might, with respect to small enterprises in general, cause discouragement which 
nothing would justify. 

But, in the end, these first fears were greatly lessened by subsequent infor- 
mation furnished to the council. 

In the session of January 30 the minister announced at first that his ad- 
ministration knew of certain amateurs who desired the block in question. 

He added afterwards " that the putting up of the blocks at auction was not 
with the idea of procuring immediate fruitful cultivation, but of opening up a 
region for experiments in agriculture with a view to ultimate fruitful culti- 
vation to be undertaken with lands of greater extent after the experiments had 
proved successful." 

SPECIFICATIONS. 

The council naturally started to examine, at the same time as the decree 
itself the general and special conditions which govern the auctions. 

Certain members thought that the clauses relative to the obligation to cul- 
tivate as well as those relative to the choice of crops, placed too much power m 
the hands of the administration and were accompanied by too severe penalties. 

This opinion was not concurred in by the majority of the memaers of the 
council, who considered that the clauses criticised fully answered the needs 

''^O^the'^otheThaM the council, in accord with the minister was unanimously 
of the opinion that it was necessary to redraft the clause relating to the tacit 

'''?rXiSt*?on''wTth the preceding observations the minister of the colonies 
called a tention to the fact that the drawing up of the ^P^c^A^^^^^^ .•^f^^i'^^ed 
to the executive power, and that consequently these papers would not be sub- 
mitted toecy to The council. He added, however, "that the specifications 

should Sta^ be considered with the 1-^"? i^ft^bV' ^en^b^Ll-oS' 
as thev might exercise an influence over the advice to be gnen by tne council, 
and tSat "(Tniquently they may be made the subject of its comments." 
This declaration was unanimously approved. 



188 AFFAIES IK THE KOKGO. 

QUESTIONS OF FORM AND PROCEDURE. 

Ill conclusion, the attention of the council was directed to the following ques- 
tions of form and procedure : 

A. — Interpretation of the colonial law. 

One member at first drew attention to a legal difficulty which may be briefly 
stated as follows : 

The case might arise that a purchaser of the lands sold might have previ- 
ously obtained tranfers or concessions from the State. 

But, under article 15 of the colonial law one person can not be awarded more 
than the maximum set by that article, unless the draft of the decree shall 
have been deposited during thirty session days on the desks of both Chambers. 
Would it not, therefore, be illegal to award land to such a person without 
subjecting the decree authorizing the award to the said formality of deposit? 

The council unanimously voted negatively, holding that, in case of auction, 
the spirit of article 15 of the colonial law required the deposit only when the 
land offered measured more than the maxima prescribed by the aforesaid 
provision. 

B. — Form of awards. 

The question of the form of awards was also raised. 

A member remarked that an award could not bear the requisite features of 
regularity and publicity unless the various concomitant formalities were care- 
fully regulated, whereupon the minister of the colonies declared that the 
measures to be taken in this respect were in the province of the executive 
power, which would duly provide therefor. 

This explanation was received with unanimous assent. 

C. — Demarcation. 

Article 1 of the draft of decree ends with the following provision : 
"The land shall be delimited in common accord with the competent authori- 
ties in the Kongo." 

A member inquired whether it would not be wise to provide for the inter- 
vention of the courts in case of persistent disagreement between the purchaser 
and the government surveyors, and the minister of colonies then declared that 
he considered such a clause to be unnecessary, as the courts' intervention in 
questions of ownership was a matter of right. 

D. — Date of the award. 

Lastly, in reply to an inquiry as to the definitive date of the award, the 
minister of colonies assured the council that every arrangement had been made 
to give actual publicity to the tender of proposals and to allow the public 
sufficient time for an inspection of the land before the award. 

The council, after noting those various declarations, by a unanimous vote, 
except one not voting, gave the above referred to decree its approval at its ses- 
sion of January 80. 

In accordance with section 3 of article 25 of the law relative to the govern- 
ment of the Belgian Kongo, the member who did not vote declared that he 
refrained from voting for personal motives. 

H. Speyer, Reporter. 
O. LouwERS, Secretary. 

Brussels, February 6, 1909. 



Sale and lease of land in the Kongo. 

Leopold II, King of the Belgians, to all, noto and hereafter, greeting: 

In view of article 15 of the law of October IS, 1908, relative to the government 
of the Belgian Kongo — 

In view of the opinion rendered by the colonial council in its session of Jan- 
uary 30, 1909, 



APFAIES IN THE KONGO. IgQ 

On the motion of our minister of colonies, we have decreed and hereby decree: 

Aeticle 1. 

Our minister of colonies is authorized to call public nronosals for thp fmintxr 
ing tracts of land to be put to agricultural uses. P^P^sals for the follow- 

For sale and, incidentally, for lease : 

One block of land measuring 33 hectares, situated in Bolombo on the left 
bank of the Kongo, eight hours distant by canoe from New '^twerD 

For a thirty year lease with right of renewal • ' 

(A) Three blocks of land measuring one hundred, one hundred and fiftv and 
two hundred and fifty hectares, respectively, situated in the Banana regijn at 
places marked 1, 2, and 3 in the hereto annexed sketch No 1 

(B) Two blocks of land measurmg five hundred hectares each, situated in 
the Boma district, Ponta da Lenha region, at places marked 1 and 2 in the 
hereto annexed sketch No. 2. vx « m luc 

The land shall be delimited in common accord with the competent authorities 
m the Kongo. 

Article 2. 

Our minister of colonies is charged with the duty of making all regulations 
relative to the execution of this decree. 
Given at Paris, February 8, 1909. 

„ ^, „. Leopold. 

By the King: 

J. Renkin, 

Minister of Colonies. 



[Translation.] 

Annex to the Official Bulletin of the Belgian Kongo. 

[February 16, 1909.] 

Notification. 

sale and leasing of domainal lands by public award. 

The Government will award publicly before the keeper of landed title deeds 
at Boma the 2d of July next and following days, if there be occasion, at 9 
o'clock in the morning, the sale or the leasing of the lands indicated in the 
schedule of allotment, of which mention is made below. 

The award will take place by auction, according to the clauses of the sched- 
ule of conditions and of general conditions of public sales and leasings (An- 
nexes I and II), and according to the conditions peculiar to each sale or leasing 
indicated in the schedule of allotment. This schedule of allotment and the 
plans to which it refers may be consulted at the colonial office at Brussels, 
10 rue Brederode, at the seat of the local government at Boma, and in all the 
district capitals. Extracts of these plans with the special conditions can be pro- 
cured there at the price of 2 francs per portion. 

If other lands than those forming the object of the schedule of allotment 
be hereafter demanded from the Government, the site and the configuration of 
these lands must be determined in accord with the Kongo authorities, and this 
before the sale or the leasing can take place. 



Annex I. — Schedule of conditions and general conditions of sales of lands hy 

public award. 

I. The sale shall take place publicly at Boma before the keeper of landed 
title deeds. The highest bidder shall be declared the purchaser. 

The bids shall be received from the buyers in person or from their manda- 
tories, whose powers must be deposited at the seat of jurisdiction of landed 
title deeds at Boma at least eight days before the award. 



190 AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

II The payment shall be made in the following manner: 

One-tenth of the price shall be paid at the time of the award into the hands 
of the receiver of taxes, present at the sale, or of his deputy. 

No lot can be awarded if the bidder is not prepared to satisfy this condition. 

The balance of the price shall be paid at the time of the delivery of the 
certificate of registration, which shall take place at the latest three months 
after the sale. 

III. If at that time the purchaser has not paid the balance of the price, 
the Government shall have the right either to sue for the execution of the sale 
and the payment of the price or to consider the sale void, as of right. In this 
case the Government shall give notice to the delinquent purchaser and the 
part of the price paid in at the time of the award shall be retained by it by 
way of damages. 

There shall be no award upon unredeemed bidding. 

IV. The lands shall have the boundaries set by the buyer and at his expense, 
according to the indications of the register of lands. 

V. The sale does not include the parts of the public domain not capable of 
admitting private ownership, such as roads, as well as rivers, navigable or 
floatable streams and water courses and their banks for a width of 10 yards, 
starting from the line formed by the highest level which the waters attain in 
their periodic rise. 

The slopes of mountains and of hills presenting an angle of 35° with the hori- 
zontal line and above shall not be cleared of woods without the authorization 
of the governor-general. 

VI. All the debts and obligations with which the land may be encumbered 
to the profit of third persons, and notably of natives, shall be supported by 
the buyer. These debts and obligations shall not be the basis of any claim 
against the Government if they have been made known to the buyer before 
the sale. 

VII. The Government does not take any responsibility with regard to the 
quality of the lands. The latter can not give cause for claim against the 
Government on the head of defect in the thing sold. 

VIII. In the case when the award might have jilace for the benefit of per- 
sons of color these shall not be able to apply the portion thus acquired to the 
retail of alcohol. Any infringement of this interdiction shall give to the Gov- 
ernment the right to obtain the annulling of the sale. 

IX. If the establishment of a railroad, of a route of transports, or of a 
telegraphic line is decreed, the Government or the grantee shall have the right 
to avail it or himself of the necessary grounds by paying to the purchaser 
double the value of the purchase of the ground taken, principal and expenses, 
unless the purchaser prefers to cede it back to the Government or to cede to 
the grantee all the lot at the purchase price, principal and expenses, increased by 
the value of the plantations and of the buildings. 

X. The present sale does not confer any right upon the underground products. 
The mining status of properties sold remains subject to the application of the 

decrees of June 8, 1888; of march 20, 1S93 ; and of July 22, 1904, as well as of 
all the regulations which might come ulteriorly to complete these decrees or to 
govern their execution. 

XI. Special conditions may supersede the general conditions expressed in the 
preceding articles. If not expressly so superseded, in case of doubt conven- 
tions making the object of the award must be interpreted in favor of the 
maintenance of the general conditions. 

XII. At the time of the award the purchaser must make choice of domicile 
at Boma, at Matadi, or at Leopoldville. All notifications, demands, prosecu- 
tions, etc., with regard to the execution of the award or of the sale shall be 
made at the domicile thus chosen. 

Annex II. — Schedule of conditions and general conditions of leasings of lands 

hy public aioard. 

Article I. The leasing shall take place publicly at Boma before the keeper 
of landed title deeds. The highest bidder shall receive the award. 

The bids shall be received from the takers in person or from their mandato- 
ries, whose powers must be deposited at the office of the keeper of title deeds at 
Boma eight days at least before the award. 

Art. II. The first installment of rent shall be paid at the time of the award 
into the hands of the receiver of taxes present at the leasing, or of his deputy 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 191 

No lot can be awarded if tlie purchaser is not prepared to satisfy this 
condition. 

Aet. III. The leasing does not include parts of the public domain not capable 
of admitting private ownership, such as roads, as well as rivers, navigable and 
floatable streams and water courses and their banks at a width of 10 yards, 
starting from the line formed by the highest level which the waters attain in 
their periodic rise. 

Abt. IV. The rights of the lessee are determined by common law, by the spe- 
cial usage in view of which the leasing is made, by the special conditions of the 
latter, and by the general conditions of the present schedule of conditions. 

In any case the slopes of mountains and hills presenting an angle of 35° or 
more with the horizontal line shall not be deforested without the iiuthorization 
of the governor-general. 

Art. V. All charges and obligations with which the land may be burdened 
to the profit of third persons, and notably of natives, shall be borne by the lessee. 
These charges and obligations shall not give cause to any claim against the 
Government if the lessee has been made acquainted with them before the 
leasing. 

Art. VI. The Government does not take any engagement as regards the 
quality of the lands. The latter shall not give cause to any recourse against 
the Government on the head of defect in the thing rented. 

Art. VII. The present leasing does not confer any right over the underground 
products. 

The mining status of properties rented remains under the application of the 
decrees of June 8, 188S ; of March 20, 1893 ; and of July 22, 1904, as well as of all 
the regulations which may hereafter surpervene to complete these decrees or to 
govern their execution. 

Art. VIII. In case the award should go to colored persons the latter shall 
not be permitted to use the plot so leased for the retail sale of alcohol. Any 
infringement of this prohibition shall give to the Government the right to ob- 
tain the annulment of the leasing. 

Art. IX. Special conditions may supersede the general conditions expressed 
in the preceding articles. If not expressly thus superseded and in case of 
doubt, the conventions making the object of the award must be interpreted in 
favor of the maintenance of the general conditions. 

Art. X. At the time of the award the purchaser must make choice of domi- 
cile at Boma, at Matadi, or at Leopoldvile. 

All notifications, demands, prosecutions, etc., with regard to the execution 
of conditions of the award or of the leasing shall be made at the domicile thus 
chosen. 

No. 92. 
Africa No. 2 (1909). 

E'urther Correspondence Respecting the Taxation of Natives and Other 
Questions in the Kongo State. 

In continuation of "Africa No. 5 (1908) :" Cd. 4396. 

[Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty. .Tune, 1900.] 

Memorandum from the Belgian minister, March 15, 1909. 

[Translation.] 

In the memorandum which His Britannic Majesty's secretary of state for 
forSgn affairs transmitted to the Count de Lalaing on the 4th November, 
iSoS^ re ative to the annexation of the Independent State of the Km^SO by 
P^io'innr the attention of the Belgian Government was called m the first 
phS to'a poinf upon wh^^^ Bri^'tannic Majesty's Government lay stress as 

i^fo of +hP iT^otlves of their intervention in this question, viz. the proximity of 
Te BriSi poss^sioL' in ASfca to the territory of the Independent State of 

a See "Africa No. 5 (1908) :" [Cd. 4396], p. 170. 



192 ATFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

the Kon<^o In view of that proximity, His Britannic Majesty's Government 
appear anxious lest the manner in which the Independent State has been 
governed and which in their eyes differs from that obtaining in neighboring 
countries', should injuriously affect the kindred tribes living in British terri- 
tory. They desire, therefore, to receive precise information as to the views 
and intentions of the new administration. 

With a view to allaying the anxieties of His Majesty's Government, the 
Belgian Government can not do better than remind them that, during the past 
twenty-five years, no frontier incident has occurred between the Independent 
State and British possessions which could be ascribed to the administration 
of the territories bordering on those possessions. The danger apprehended by 
His Majesty's Government has not arisen during the whole existence of the 
independent state there is no reason to suppose that it will now arise under 
Belgian administration. 

In addition to their right to secure the peace of their own borders, His 
Majesty's Government in their memorandum recall the declarations exchanged 
with the international association of the Kongo on the 16th December, 1884, 
in order to justify their demand that the transfer of sovereignty shall be accom- 
panied by the introduction into the Kongo of a system of government which 
will correspond more nearly with the intentions of the signatories of those 
declarations; it is expressly stated that the international association was 
created for the purpose of promoting the civilization and commerce of Africa, 
and for other humane and benevolent purposes. 

Is it not now really superfluous to prove how little foundation there is for the 
fears of His Majesty's Government? Is it necessary to repeat again that in tak- 
ing the place in Africa of the independent state, itself the outcome of the inter- 
national association, Belgium has adopted all the declarations exchanged by 
the association with Great Britain, and that she will continue to carry out the 
civilizing and humane objects which the signatories of the 1884 arrangement 
had in view? Ample proof of this is forthcoming from the formal assurances 
given in the Belgian Parliament by members of the Government during the 
debates on the subject of the annexation of the Kongo State. 

In statements made in public, as well as in former communications addressed 
to the British Government, the Belgium Government in the full exercise of 
their rights have confirmed their determination to insure the promotion of civili- 
zation in Africa while giving their attention at the same time to ameliorating 
the lot of the native population, and to safeguarding the interests bound up in 
the colony. 

"Belgium," said the minister of the interior on the 2d July, 1908, in the 
Chamber, " will carry out without wavering and in a spirit of generosity her 
obligations under the Berlin act. She -will be happy and proud to add this mis- 
sion of civilization and this economic task to those other undertakings which 
for seventy-seven years past have gained for her the commendation of the 
powers. She will, however, act spontaneously, depending on her rights and 
determined to maintain her independence and her sovereignty." 

These declarations were hopefully received by public opinion in Belgium ; 
Parliament, on their side, clearly manifested a determination to uphold and sup- 
port the cabinet in carrying out this great self-imposed undertaking. The value 
of obligations entered into by the Belgian Government with the nation at the 
time of the annexation can not be discussed or called in question. The British 
Government can surely be under no misapprehension as to this ; their last memo- 
randum, however, evinces some disappointment because no indication has, up to 
the present, been afforded as to the details of the changes which will be made, 
in order to improve existing conditions, nor as to the moment when such changes 
will be introduced. 

To persist in putting forward such a request can scarcely be explained by a 
desire to be informed of the actual text of the amendments to be introduced 
into the laws and decrees in force at the present time, before such proposed 
amendments have been brought to the knowledge of the authorities in Belgium 
who will be called upon to consider them. How is it possible, in short, to 
ascribe to the British Government an intention to make the adoption of laws, 
which concern the colony and its internal administration, dependent upon a 
kind of preliminary approval of a foreign government? 

On the other hand, scarcely four months have passed since the transfer of the 
Kongo administration to Belgium took place. The British Government, with 
their long colonial experience, will appreciate better than anybody else the 



AFPAIES IN THE KONGO. 193 

I.o^fiT'"'^ "^ ^"*;^ ^ f^'^'^i P'^''^^^ ^^^ drawing up in their final form weighty 
resolutions on colonial matters, which can only be put forward after caS 

^'K'''ioT'^^'l.r^^\^ "^T '^^''''^ ^^^" t^« ^^ecessaiy intermediate stages 

^^^ ?,f ^i'''' Chamber, during the discussion of the first colonial budget, 
realized that such a work could not be hastily completed, and that a government 
conscious of Its responsibilities, could not permit existing arrangements to be 
changed without having some alternatives ready to put in their place; anxiety, 
which would be reflected throughout the entire colony, would otherwise be 

8,rOtlSGCl. 

The unanimity with which on every occasion since the annexation of the 
Kongo the Belgian cabinet. Parliament, and all organs of public opinion have 
expressed themselves on the colonial question, is a proof of the lofty concep- 
tion which Belgium has formed of the mission conferred upon her in Africa, 
as well as of her fixed determination to develop her colonial enterprise in 
harmony with the interests of civilization and in ' conformity with her inter- 
national obligations. 

The Belgian Government will not fail to give effect to their intentions in the 
measures which, in the full enjoyment of their independence, they intend to 
draw up. The new administration have devoted their first efforts to the prepa- 
ration of this work, and their activity has already been revealed in several 
practical measures. 

The British memorandum goes on to examine three points which have already 
been dealt with in previous memoranda : 

(a) The extension of the lands to be assigned to the natives for the purposes 
of trade and cultivation ; 

(6) The respect of the freedom of labor, as also of the right of the natives 
to dispose of the produce of the lands assigned to them ; 

(c) The question of arbitration as to the interpretation of the treaties which 
bind the Kongo State in matters of commerce. 

As regards the first two points, the British Government take note with satis- 
faction of the intention expressed by the Belgian Government to give effect to 
the decree of the King-Sovereign of the 3d June, 1906, under which inquiries 
are to be instituted in the native villages with a view to determining the extent 
of land to be allotted to them. The British Government, however, do not con- 
sider such a measure adequate to help the natives in their traffic in the natural 
pi'oducts of the soil, a point which, in their opinion, is essential. 

They point out that the landmarks, which are said to be still in existence 
throughout the whole of the Kongo State, were formerly set up by the natives 
with the object of marking the area within which each tribe was at liberty to 
search for rubber, and they suggest that these landmarks might at once be 
utilized to determine the boundaries of the lands on which the natives would 
be free to trade in all natural products, and which they could cultivate for 
their own uses. 

The Belgian Government are, It is true, aware that the presence of land- 
marks alluded to in the British memorandum has been noted in some few parts 
of the Kongo, but it is beyond question that the erection of such landmarks 
by the natives had no other objecL t'jan to fix the political territorial limits of 
the tribes, and to put an end to the disputes which arose amongst natives owing 
allegiance to different chiefs. 

In this way these landmarks may have provided useful indications when, in 
conformity with the decree of the 3d June, 1906, on the subject of native dis- 
tricts it was a question of fixing the exteut of the territory over which the 
chiefs of the tribe should exercise authority ; but their existence is of no interest 
from the point of view of a delimitation of native lands. 

While not desirous of insisting further on the objections to a measure, the 
practical realization of which would be impossible, owing to the fact that the 
existence of such marks has only been established in a very limited area of 
Kongolese territorv, the Belgian Government feel compelled to observe that 
as the political territory of each tribe is coterminous with the territory of 
the neighboring tribe, the adoption of such a measure would have the efl;ect of 
converting into common native property the whole extent of the Belgian Kongo. 

Such a soiutiou would not only be opposed to every principle of law— it would 
be in opposition to the actual state of affairs existing throughout the whole of 
equatorial .Africa, and confirmed, notably in the British possessions in the con- 
ventional basin, by legislation applied to populations of the same race and m 
the same state of civilization as those of the Belgian Kongo. 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 13 



194 APFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

The Britisli Government lias been good enough to indicate the methods 
employed by British colonial administrations for dealing with similar questions 
in British possessions. The Belgian Government, on their part, desire to recall 
the fact that in the Uganda Protectorate the division of territory into native 
lands and vacant lands is carried out by methods of delimitation analogous to 
those laid down in the Kongolese decree of 1906. They desire further to point 
out that in British East Africa, far from recognizing as common property all 
the political territory of the tribes, the administration has not granted to the 
native any right to real property for the reason that the native possesses no 
notion what the right to property means. As indicated in the report of the 
land commission which conducted operations in this colony in 1904, the Gov- 
ernment proclaimed themselves proprietors of all lands unprovided with a 
proprietary title, whether occuipied or not. By the application of this principle 
the Government has been enabled to deal with certain tribes in the manner set 
forth in the memorandum. 

The Belgian Government have held that the grant of lands to native com- 
munities should be governed by a consideration of existing circumstances, as 
well as of future requirements ; that is to say, that in fixing the extent of lands 
granted to each tribe account should be taken of the number of individuals 
comprising the tribe, the methods of cultivation peculiar to primitive popula- 
tions, a:nd of the necessity of insuring as widely as possible the future develop- 
ment of the native communities. In carrying out the provisions of the decree 
of the 3d of June, 1906. the Belgian Government are acting in conformity with 
this principle, both in those parts which- are being developed by private parties 
as well as in the national domain. 

They are convinced that such principles applied in a manner identical with 
that adopted in other possessions in the conventional basin of the Kongo will 
provide a solution of the question of native lands in the Belgian Kongo more 
favorable to the interests of the natives than in the generality of colonies in 
equatorial Africa. 

Other measures forming part of the system which is being studied by the 
colonial administration will result in the natives benefiting to a still greater 
extent from the development of the colony. 

The latter portion of the British memorandum reverts to a request, already 
made by the cabinet of London to the Belgian Government, to be furnished 
with a formal assurance that the latter will not, if invited, refuse to submit 
to arbitration any divergence of vi-ews as to the meaning of articles of treaties 
which bind the Kongo State in regard to commercial questions. In view of 
the reasons advanced to justify a repetition of this request, the Belgian Gov- 
ernment fear that they have not explained with sufficient clearness the con- 
ditions attached by them to their ultimate acceptance of this proposal. 

The sympathy with which the Belgian Government regard a recourse to 
arbitration as a solution of international disputes is well known, but it appears 
to them impossible to admit that, amongst all the powers having possessions in 
the conventional basin of the Kongo, Belgium alone should enter into an engage- 
ment of such a general nature as to submit compulsorily to arbitration, whilst, 
for the other powers signatories of the Berlin act, arbitration, according to 
article 12 of that act, remains optional. 

The Belgian Government find, however, no difficulty in repeating that if they 
were invited to refer in the last resort to The Hague tribunal a dispute arising 
from a divergence of views as to the interpretation of treaties binding the 
Kongo State they would examine any such proposal with the utmost good will, 
animated by the liberal views displayed in the preparation of the arbitration 
conventions concluded by Belgium, and reserving, as was explained in the 
memorandum of the 12th of July last, the sanction of Parliament as required 
by article 6S of the constitution. 

In that event, however, they would be obliged to insure that the arbitration 
procedure should be in harmony with the application of article 84 of the 
convention drawn up at The Hague conference, of which they are one of the 
signatories. That article imposes on the parties to the dispute the obligation, 
when there is a question as to the interpretation of a treaty of which other 
powers are signatories, of informing in good time all powers who have signed 
such treaty. Each of these powers is entitled to intervene in the proceedings ; 
if one or more avail themselves of the right, the interpretation given by the 
award is equally binding on them. Now, the Berlin act is a collective treaty. 
In order to avoid all the difficulties which might result from a different applica- 
tion of the clauses of this treaty in the various territories which go to make 
up the conventional basin of the Kongo, a result which, contrary to the spirit 



APFAIKS m THE KONGO. 195 

of the Berlin act, would set up differential treatment to the disadvanta-p of 
n^tf^lfT \r''^'''^' it follows that recourse to arbiSatfon could on y^ake 
S!A f^ other powers having possessions in the conventinal basin had con 
sented beforehand to intervene in the proceedings or to accept for theYr pos- 
sessions the interpretation given by the award 

The British memorandum makes no mention 'of this essential condition 

As regards the question of arbitration, the Belgian Government, on their 
side, must abide by their former reply, their attitude, and the reasons ad- 
vanced m explanation of it, having been approved by Parliament at the time 
when the annexation of the Kongo was discussed. Even amongst speakers of 
the opposition the contention of the Government as regards the conditional 
acceptance of arbitration found many supporters, who would not understand 
any departure from it now. 

The Belgian Government in their memorandum of the 12th July « said that 
m their opinion, there was a better method than arbitration for "solving nnes- 
tions and disputes in the conventional basin of the Kongo, and that was a direct 
understanding between the powers having possessions in this region The 
Belgian Government adhere to their belief that such a procedure would, despite 
the difficulty foreseen by England of obtaining the adhesion of the different 
States interested, have the immense advantage of insuring the general observ- 
ance of the clauses of the Berlin act and their uniform interpretation. 

The British memorandum expresses in conclusion the desire that equal 
facilities should be given in all parts of the Kongo territory to Christian mis- 
sionaries of all denominations and to their converts, for the prosecution of their 
work and the free exercise of their religion. 

The putting up for sale of the domain lands was duly announced in the 
memorandinn of the 12th July. The Belgian Government intend, however, 
to give facilities to religious missions for the acquisition of the land necessary 
for the prosecution of their missionary work, whilst not submitting such land 
to public adjudication, as provided by the present laws for the sale and lease 
of the domain lands. 

Favorable consideration has therefore now been given to a series of demands 
formulated by Protestant missions. The decisions arrived at will be brought to 
the knowledge of those interested as soon as the necessary alterations entailed 
by them in the decree of the 3d June, 1906, have been made. 

Ap regards the choice of sites thus granted, the colonial administration will 
endeavor to suit the convenience of the missions, reserving to themselves, of 
course, the right to decide in each case, according to the right of all govern- 
ments, which lands can best be alienated so as to coincide with the general 
interests represented by the administration. 

Whilst proclaiming by one of their first acts their desire to protect all religious 
undertakings without distinction of nationality or creed, the Belgian Govern- 
ment rely upon the missionaries of all Christian denominations considering it 
their duty to respect the laws and public authorities of the country, the hos- 
pitality of which they enjoy. 

The Belgian Government are not insensible to the reference in the British 
memorandum to the traditional friendship which exists between the two 
nations. This friendship, to which they on their side attach as much impor- 
tance as His Majesty's Government, encourages them to cherish the hope that 
the cabinet of London will understand that the explanations offered could not 
be more exact nor more detailed. 

They also hope that it will be understood in England how painful it is for 
the Belgian people to see their intentions called in question, after the innumer- 
able proofs which have been given of their love of civilization and after the 
great progress which they have made and which has won for them a position of 
such respect. The Belgians are resolved to develop and to advance the great 
work accomplished by the founder of the independent state, despite the slender 
means at his disposal. Neither in Africa nor in Europe will they fail in their 
duty, nor will they fall short of that which the civilized world expects of them. 

To succeed in her colonial enterprise Belgium has need of an atmo.sphere 
of calm, of sympathy, and of confidence. At a time when she has assumed 
responsibilities, the gravity of which she fully realizes, she would welcome, as 
an especially valuable encouragement, an assurance that in the mind of the 
British Government her past history is a guarantee of her present loyal in- 
tentions. 

Brussels, Marcli 12, 1909. 

«See "Africa No. 4 fl90S) ;" p. 152. 



196 ATFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

No. 2. 
Sir Edioard Grey to Count de Lalaing. 

Foreign Office, Jime 11, 1909. 
Sir : I liave the honor to transmit to yon herewith the reply of His Majesty's 
Government to the memorandum regarding the Kongo question which you 
were good enough to leave with me on the 15th March. 

I have, etc., E. Geey. 



[Inclosure in No. 2.] 
Aide-m6moire. 

His Majesty's Government have given their earnest consideration to the 
memorandum communicated to the secretary of state for foreign affairs by the 
Belgian minister on the 15th March, and especially to the observations there 
made on three of the principal points raised in their memorandum of the 4th 
November last. Those points were briefly (1) the extension of the territory 
reserved for the natives; (2) free labor and the right of the native to dispose 
of the produce of the soil; (3) arbitration. 

With regard to the first point. His Majesty's Government feel bound to state 
that, in their opinion, the Belgian Government have been misinformed as to the 
nature and extent of the native boundary divisions; equally, they feel bound to 
state that they can admit no analogy between the method of assigning territory 
to tl:!e natives which has b^en adopted in the British protectorates and that 
adopted in the Kongo Free State. 

Writer after writer of published works on this region has given copious evi- 
dence regarding the native boundaries, and His Majesty's present vice-consul 
in the Katanga district, who has traveled across the whole country, states 
that they are " known and recognized to within a foot's breadth by the natives 
themselves," a fact which " is abundantly clear to any one traveling through 
the country, and it is corroborated by older residents." In their memorandum 
of the 4th November His Majesty's Government referred, it is true, to land- 
marlvS erected at a comparatively recent date to prevent disputes as to the 
collection of rubber, but they did not thereby commit themselves to the opinion 
that this was the only evidence of the rights of the various tribes in particular 
districts. On the contrary, they are s^'tisfied that the country is divided up to 
a much greater degree than the description in the Belgian note — " exception- 
nellemeiit en quelques endroits " — woald imply; by perfectly well-defined 
boundaries indicating the extent of the tribal possessions. These boundaries 
sometimes follow natural features of the country and sometimes arbitrary lines, 
but they can always be ascertained. 

His Majesty's GoA'ernment do not suggest that in all cases these boundaries 
are still binding on the Belgian authorities. Tribes have in many cases shifted 
their quarters and emigrated to new districts, and the ravages of sickness and 
the results of the system of administration pursued by the authorities during 
the last twenty years have swept away altogether the population of some dis- 
tricts and greatly reduced that of others. 

His Majesty's Government feel, however, that it would be undesirable to 
delay their recognition of the annexation of the Kongo by Belgium till an 
exact agreement has been reached on this question. 

With regard to the second point. His Majesty's Government consider that the 
restriction or destruction of native rights has prevented those opportunities for 
trade in the produce of the soil which were expected to be available for British 
subjects under trenty, but they are much more concerned to see an end put to 
the system of forced labor and taxation in kind which accompanied the destruc- 
tion of native rights. This question is one not of argument, but of fact. 
Under the previous government of the Kongo in large districts, if not in the 
greater part of the whole Kongo State, the forced labor exacted from men, 
and in many cases from women, amounted to nearly, if not quite, the whole time 
of an adult yenr after year. In the Kasai district, under the guise of trade, 
taxation in rubber was exacted in open defiance of the laws of the Kongo 
State. It was by such means that the greater part of the rubber exported from 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 197 

the Konw was obtained. The export of rubber has not fallen off and no 
reports have reached His Majesty's Government to show that the amount of 
forced labor and illegal or excessive taxation exacted from the natives have 
diminished. 

In the Leopoldville district, for instance, the taxation has quite recently been 
increased, in the case of men, from 9 to 12 francs, which amounts to 40 per cent 
of the earnings of a government laborer, and in the case of women from 6 to 
12 francs, and this although the poveity of the country is very marked and 
the people have barely sufficient food for their own needs. The Belgian govern- 
nieul officials discourage in every possible way payments in cash, and take the 
chikwangue which is offered as payment in kind at 6 centimes worth of trade 
goods for a kilogram, while 25 centimes is being paid in the native market. 

Again, a letter of the 10th December last describes the visit of a Belgian offi- 
cial to the village of Mibenga, where, on the ground that the full tax had not 
been paid by the villagers, 26 men and boys, all of whom had paid their own 
share, were arrested, sent in chains carrying burdens a distance of twenty days' 
journey to a state station, and there kept in penal servitude for six weeks. 

To this state of things, so amply described in the published reports of His 
Majesty's consuls, His Majesty's Government can not give recognition and 
they are sure that the Belgian Government desire to put an end to it, for it is, 
in fact, indistinguishable from slavery. They are anxious to recognize the 
Belgian Government of the Kongo, but they can not do so until it is clear that 
the abuses of taxation and forced labor, including the system carried out by 
the Kasai company, have ceased, and that the treatment of the natives in 
these respects has been assimilated to that which is found in other European 
colonies. Meanwhile British subjects are unable to enter the Kongo and to 
trade in the natural produce of the soil, and His Majesty's Government feel 
that they can not withhold their support should complaints reach them from 
British subjects who may be prevented from trading, owing to the fact that 
the natives are deprived of the rights to sell the natural produce of the soil. 

Whether the application of the decree of the 3d June, 1906, will restore the 
freedom of trade, which His Majesty's Government believed to have been 
secured by the act of Berlin and the convention of 1884 between Great Britain 
and the Kongo, His Majesty's Government can not foresee. They have already 
had the honor to point out in the memorandum of the 4th November that a 
delimitation of the land to be assigned to a native village in accordance with 
the decree of 1906 will not by itself provide a sufficient remedy for existing 
conditions if it is based solely upon the extent of laud required for purposes 
of cultivation, and takes no account of the extent of land to which the natives, 
unless they are to be deprived of all right to trade In the produce of the soil, 
are clearly entitled. 

Any differences of opinion with regard to commercial rights under treaties 
His Majesty's Government would desire to refer to arbitration, but it is 
obvious that abitration can not take place so long as one of the parties has 
not recognized the annexation of the Kongo State by Belgium. 

His Majesty's Government anxiously await reports from the Kongo which 
will show that the Belgian Government have succeeded in stopping the sys- 
tem of forced labor which has hitherto prevailed, for His Majesty's Govern- 
ment are sure that the Belgian Government will agree that a system such as 
that described in British and American consular reports is indefensible. 



No. 93. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

fsTn 4-Y4- 1 American Legation, 

-■ Brussels, March 11, 1909. 

Sir: I have the honor to report that on Tuesday of this week, 
March 16, an interpellation Avas made in the Belgian chamber by 
Mr Vandervelde and Mr. Royer, Socialist deputies, on thG subject 



198 AFFAIRS IF THE KONGO. 

of the decree authorizing the requisition of Kongo natives for works 
of " public utility," and especially for the construction of the Great 
Lakes Kail way. This railway was a ninety-nine year concession 
granted in 1902, with the subsidy of 4,000,000 hectares, which are 
to be exploited for the joint account of the Government and the 
company, the Government guaranteeing 4 per cent income and a 
sinking fund. A decree of January 4, 1909, declared the Great 
Lakes Railway to be a work of " public utility," and a decree dated 
January 6 authorized the recruiting of 2,575 men in the current 
year, contracted for five years at a nominal wage of 21 centimes per 
diem. 

Mr. Royer in his remarks reminded the chamber of the great 
profits realized by the Abir and Anversoise companies, due in a large 
measure to forced labor, and recalled the provision of the recently 
adopted colonial law prohibiting forced labor for the benefit of a 
private person. He asserted that the decree of January 6, 1909, 
violated the principle of this provision in authorizing the forced 
recruitment of natives for the Great Lakes Railway construction. 
He said that any kind of work might be described as a work of 
" public utility." In one of the first acts for which Belgium was 
responsible the abuses which had been committed in the past were 
repeated. It was a disgrace to civilization that the natives should 
be torn from their homes for a period of five years under threat of 
the chicotte. It was entirely possible to establish free labor in the 
Kongo, and the question was whether Belgium would allow herself 
to be disgraced in the face of the world for the profit of financial 
companies. 

Mr. Renkin, minister for colonies, said that the decree of January 
6 in no way violated the colonial charter. This work on the rail- 
ways was urgent and of " public utility," and the natives as well as 
the mother country would benefit by it. He did not deny that the 
chicotte had been employed or that the natives had been chained, 
but he affirmed that conditions had been greatly improved and that 
it was the aim of the Government to eventually establish free labor, 

Mr, Vandervelde said that the reply of the minister was not satis- 
factory. The argument of " public utility " was not tenable, and 
there was no valid reason why the system of free labor should not 
be at once introduced. The position of the minister was at variance 
with the views of all independent students of colonial affairs and 
was in eloquent contrast with the system in force in the majority 
of African colonies, notably in the British and French West African 
colonies. In these colonies the illegitimate use of forced labor did 
not exist. He bore witness to what he himself had seen during his 
recent tour in the Kongo and described in eloquent words the lot 
of the native driven to Avork in the Uelle and in the district of the 
Great Lakes, thirty days' journey from their homes. 

The debate will be continued on next Tuesday, and details will be 
furnished. 

I have, etc., Heney Lane Wilson. 



APFAIES IN THE KONGO. X99 

No. 94. 
Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

[Telegram.] 

American Legation, 

Brussels, March 29, 1909. 
Gathering rubber in the Abir and the Anversoise districts is sus- 
pended for a year. I am informed unofficially that the BeKian 
colonial office is studying a plan for the establishment of commercial 
freedom throughout all Belgian Kongo. 

Wilson. 

No. 95. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 479.] American Legation, 

Brussels, April 2, 1909. 

Sir : Referring to my No. 474, of March 17, I have the honor to re- 
port the continuance, on March 31, of the debate in the Belgian cham- 
ber on the interpellation of the ministry relative to its attitude 
toward the forced-labor question in the Kongo. 

Mr. Vandervelde declared that the decree of January 6, referred 
to in my No. 474, produced a more serious situation than hitherto ex- 
isted in the Kongo. He maintained that the forced employment of 
natives on the Great Lakes Railroad was in contravention of the re- 
cently adopted colonial law and not accordant with the civilizing role 
which Belgium assumed before the world when she annexed the 
Kongo. The promises of the Government had not been fulfilled; 
the unspeakable barbarities of the chicotte, together with chains and 
slavery, had been banished from the French and British colonies^ 
and Parliament ought to remove the stain from Belgium's honor. 
" Forced labor is a crime against human dignity, and the decree in 
question is unlawful." 

Mr. Tibbaut, a clerical member who has visited the Kongo, ex- 
pressed the hope that the ministry would make full and satisfactory 
explanations. 

Mr. Renkin, minister for colonies, said that the important question 
at this time, both for the good of Belgium and for the natives, was 
to hasten the construction of the railroad, to the end that all parts 
of the Kongo might be brought into more intimate connection and 
the country more rapidly developed and civilized. Forced labor, he 
said, was not confined to the Great Lakes Company, but was found to 
exist in all colonies and was in active operation on the railways 
of Lagos, Uganda, and Sierra Leone. The administration of the 
Kongo was admittedly not ideal, but the Government was dealing 
with a difficult situation and the conditions prevailing were the 
best that could be secured at present. Forced labor would eventually 
be abolished, but certain forms of slavery, which had always been 
implanted in the soil could not be abruptly abolished until the Gov- 



200 AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 

ernment had an opportunity, through the instrumentalities of civili- 
zation, to substitute a new regime. 

Mr. Hymans, Liberal, maintained that forced labor must disappear, 
but expressed confidence in the minister for colonies. 

Mr. Vandervelde emphasized the necessity for repealing the decree 
and said that the information on which the minister based his state- 
ments emanated from the colonial office, which was simply another 
name for the old " press bureau " of the Kongo. 

On the day following, April 1, the chamber voted on the various 
resolutions submitted in the course of the interpellations. The first 
resolution, introduced by Mr. Vandervelde, was as follows : 

Chamber considers that forced work to the profit of anyone or any form 
Is a crime against human dignity ; it considers, moreover, that the impress- 
ment of natives under the decree of January 6, 1909, on worlvs intended to 
benefit the shareholders in the Great Lalves Railway Company constitutes a 
violation of article 2 of the law relative to the government of the Kongo. 

This resolution was defeated by 72 votes against 35. The second 
resolution, introduced by Mr. Hymans, was as follows: 

Chamber considers that it is necessary to substitute free recruitment in the 
shortest time possible for the forced recruitment decreed for reasons of public 
utility in the construction of the Great Lakes Railway, and it is convinced that 
it is possible to materially ameliorate the condition of the laborers engaged on 
this work, tending especially to reduce the length of service, to limit the 
zone of recruitments and of the proportion of natives taken from each locality, 
to pay these laborers a remuneration equal to that of free laborers in the same 
region, and to pay this remuneration in specie. 

This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Chamber. 
I have, etc., 

Henry Lane Wilson. 



No. 96. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 489.] American Legation, 

Brussels, April 22, 1909. 

Sir : I have the honor to inform the department that Mr. Kenkin, 
Belgian minister for colonies, will sail on this date for the Kongo 
for the purpose of making a thorough study of the conditions exist- 
ing there and of informing himself through personal inspection of 
the character and extent of alleged existing abuses, the most practical 
methods for carrying into effect the Government's proposed reforms, 
and of gathering the general information essential to the formula- 
tion of the Belgian Government's policy in the Kongo. 

From the reputation which Mr. Eenldn enjoys, of being a man of 
high ideals and humane views, I anticipate the best resuks to even- 
tuate from this expedition, which is undertaken with the approval and 
sympathy of the parliamentary majority and the cabinet. 

Mr. Eenkin will arrive at Boma about the 10th of May, and it is 
expected that his investigations will keep him in the Kongo until the 
month of October next. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



APFAIKS IN THE KONGO. 201 

No. 97. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 498.] American Legation, 

Brussels, May 4, 1909. 

Sir : I have the honor to inform the department that immediately 
upon the return from the Kongo of Mr. Eenkin, the Belo-ian minis- 
ter for colonies, a census of the black population of the Belgian Kono-o 
will be taken. *= 

The lowest estimate of the native population fixes it at 15,000,000 
and the highest at 30,000,000. This difference is so considerable as 
to render difficult the formulation of some features of i\\Q policy which 
the new government is preparing to pursue, and it desires to gather 
more accurate data. 

Under the new regime the native population of the Kongo is ex- 
pected to rapidly increase, as the causes which contributed to its 
decimation are expected to be rapidly modified and eventually 
removed. 

I have, etc., Henry Lane Wilson. 



No. 98. 

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. 

No. 503.] American Legation, 

Brussels, May 27, 1909. 

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a translation of an 
excerpt froin the Belgian Parliamentary Annals reporting a question 
addressed by Mr. Vandervelde (Socialist member) to the minister for 
colonies and the reply of the minister ad interim for said department. 

The information herewith transmitted is of value in that it fur- 
nishes additional evidence of the reforming tendencies of the new 
administration of the Kongo. 

I have, etc., HDenry Lane Wilson. 



[Inclosure — Translation.] 
Translation of excerpt of Belgian Parliamentary Annals. 

QUESTION BY ME. VANDERVELDE (SOCIALIST). 

The minister of colonies lias declared that the acceptance of rubber in pay- 
ment of taxes was suspended in the Abir and the Mongala. 

Is it true that contrary to this declaration the Government has issued instruc- 
tions to its agents to demand only the payment of half the taxes in rubber 
within these two regions, which would indicate the maintenance in some 
measure of forced labor in the rubber industry of the Abir and the Mongala? 

REPLY BY THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND THE MINISTER FOR COLONIES AD INTERIM. 

The press has announced that an order of the minister for colonies has sus- 
pended the gathering of rubber in the Mongala and the Abir. Presented m 



202 AJTATES IN THE KONGO. 

this way, the news was not exact, as will appear from the text of the following 
communication, which the minister for colonies made to the commission charged 
with the examination of the budget in the beginning of April : 

"The Government asked the governor-general to take prompt measures to 
modify the tax rolls in force in the districts of Mongala and Maringa Lopori. 
These modifications were aimed to reduce the rubber labor tax due from the 
natives of those regions. By the last mail the Government was advised that 
the governor-general had taken the necessary measures." 

These measures are embraced in an ordinance dated February 27, 1909. It 
stipulates that the natives of Mongala and Maringa Lopori may not, during the 
year 1909, pay their taxes in labor connected with the gathering of rubber 
" except by an amount of products representing a number of hours of labor 
equivalent to the half of the tax in currency." 

The ordinance adds that the labor in connection with the gathering of rubber 
shall be performed only during the six first months of the year 1909. Prom this 
it appears that the harvesting of rubber will be suspended after the 1st of 
July, 1909. 

No. 99. 
Memorandum handed to the Secretary of State^ June 26, 1909. 

[Translation.] 

Brussels, June 12, 1909. 

The Secretary of State of the United States addressed to the 
King's minister at Washington, on January 11 last, a note in which, 
on the occasion of the annexation of the Independent State by Bel- 
gium he reverts to the desiderata contained in the American memo- 
randa of April 7 and 16, 1908. 

The note transmitted by Baron Moncheur particularly expresses 
the Washington Cabinet's desire to receive the renewed assurance that 
Belgium will discharge the obligations assumed by the Independent 
State of the Kongo in the Brussels convention of July 2, 1890. It 
immediately adds that this assurance is, moreover, in perfect accord 
with the views of the Belgian Government, the expressions already 
made by it in regard to its own purpose as a power signatory to 
the Brussels convention leaving no doubt in that respect. The very 
conclusion drawn by the American Government from the previous 
clear and formal declarations of the Belgian Cabinet as to the fulfill- 
ment of the duties placed upon it by the aforesaid convention, seems 
to make a repetition of those assurances unnecessary. Furthermore, 
the King's Government would not understand how they could be 
questioned. 

Turning to the colonization system of the Kongo, the American 
note criticises the rules governing the granting of concessions. It 
expresses the opinion that the granting of concessions to various 
private corporations and the inclusion of a part of the remaining 
territory into the domain of the State had the practical effect of 
excluding the greater part of the Kongo territory from the possibility 
of purchase and of hampering the execution of the provisions of the 
declaration of 1884 of the treaty of January 24, 1891, between the 
United States and the Kongo State and of the Brussels convention 
of July 2, 1890. 

In reply to this assertion the King's Government confines itself to 
saymg that it is about to offer for sale or lease, on July 2 next, a 



APFAIES IN THE KONGO. 203 

certain number of state land tracts in the Kongo, intended for agri- 
cultural establishments or for Belgian and foreign commercial houses. 
These tenders, announced as early as February 16 last in the official 
bulletin of the colony, afford adequate evidence that there will be no 
scarcity of land for foreigners to purchase in the Kongo. This like- 
wise applies to _ missionaries. Applications for land filed by six 
Protestant associations, viz, the Westcott brothers, the Kongo Ba- 
bolo Mission, the Baptist Missionary Society, the Swedish Mission- 
ary Society, the American Baptist Missionary Union, and the Chris- 
tian Foreign Missionary Society, have been admitted by the minister 
of colonies. 

Moreover, the Belgian Government formally disputes the allega- 
tion that the existing land grants preclude its selling vacant lands 
within the granted regions to third parties. The right of the Gov- 
ernment to sell within said regions tracts of land for the use of colo- 
nists, traders, or missionaries was asserted by the chief of the cabinet 
at the session of the Chamber of Representatives of July 2 last, the 
Government being at liberty to exercise that right as it sees fit. 

The Washington cabinet next sets forth its personal ideas con^ 
cerning the property rights of the Kongo people. " In a country," 
says the American note, " where there has been no ownership of land 
in severalty by the natives, but only conununal ownership of rights 
over extensive tracts, to allot to the Government and its concession- 
naires ownership in severalty to all the lands not already owned and 
held in severalty by the natives is in effect to deprive them of their 
rights to the soil." 

The question of native ownership is not so simple as it appears to 
the American Government. It seems to confound the political ter- 
ritory of the tribes, that region over which their chiefs exercised 
their authority, with the land which is really owned by the members 
of the tribe jointly. 

If it were claimed that the whole area of their political territory 
formed the communal property of the tribes, the whole of the Bel- 
gian Kongo would be turned int« native property, since the politicai 
territory of each tribe adjoins that of its neighbor, and the colonial 
government would be denied the right to dispose of vacant lands, 
no matter how small in area. Such a claim would run counter to 
all legal principles, as well as to the actual conditions existmg m 

equatorial Africa. , ■, ,■, i ■ ^ ,-> 

A few lines further on the American note ascribes the basis o± the 
former independent state and the foundation for the authority it 
exercised to the treaties made by the International African Associa- 
tion with the natives. Those very treaties recognize the association s 
riffht to dispose of unoccupied land. 

But it is necessary to revert to the above-quoted passage and note 
the sentence which reflects the opinion of the Government of ^ the 
United States respecting the ownership rights of the natives. lo 
allot to the Government and its concessionnaires ownership m sev- 
eralty to all the lands not already owned and held m severalty by the 
natives is in effect to deprive them of their rights to the soil. In 
expressing this sentiment the American note tnkes no account what- 
ever of the constituent legislation governing the land system of the 
Kongo. 



204 AJFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 

This legislation, antecedent to annexation, lays down certain prin- 
dples by virtue of which the natives' rights to the soil are respected. 
One of those principles, as formulated in the ordinance of July 1, 
1885, is that " no one has the right to dispossess natives of the lands 
occupied by them." Another principle established by the decree of 
September "^ 14, 1886, is that lands occupied by natives under the 
authority of their chiefs continue under the local customs and usage. 

The effect of these principles, which have not been modified by the 
subsequent legislation of the State of Kongo, is to secure the natives 
in the enjoyment of the lands they occupy, whatever be the form of 
such occupancy, whether in severalty or in common. 

Under their ruling did the independent state make over or grant 
certain areas of its domain. As a result the transfers or concessions 
did not and could not affect any but vacant lands, the only ones of 
which the state could dispose, and the third parties, purchasers of 
concessionaires, were, like the state itself, bound to respect the rights, 
both joint and several, of the natives to the soil. Any encroachment 
on those rights Avould be considered as void by the Belgian Govern- 
ment, because effected in violation of the principles sanctioned by 
legislation prior to such concessions or transfers. 

The American note further says that the Government of the United 
States was glad to know that since the American memoranda of April 
7 and 16, 1908, the Government of Belgium had expressed its purpose 
to extend the area of the lands to be reserved to the natives for their 
cultivation and traffic pursuant to the royal decree of June 3, 1906. 

The decree, in fact, does not set any limit to the area of lands that 
the executive joower may assign to native communities outside of 
those over which they exercise effective rights of occupation. This is 
what enabled the Belgian Government to carry it out in the most 
liberal spirit. 

It held that the assignment of lands to native communities should 
be giiided by both the actual circumstanes of the present and the 
requirements of the future — that is to say, that in determining the 
area of land to be allotted to each tribe, the number of constituent 
members, the processes of cultivation suited to a primitive people, 
and the necessity of insuring to the utmost the future development 
of native communities should all be taken into consideration. Under 
the guidance of this rule the King's Government is now carrying out 
the decree of June 3, 1906, in the regions under private exploitation 
as well as in the national domain. 

It has had occasion to satisfy itself that these principles, applied 
in accordance with a method identical with that adopted in the other 
European possessions in the conventional basin of the Kongo, will 
bring about a solution of the question of native lands in the Belgium 
Kongo more favorable to the interests of the natives than in the 
generality of colonies in equatorial Africa. 

But the King's Government proposes to reserve to itself the abso- 
lute exercise of the right to determine, in accordance with these prin- 
ciples, the area of native lands as has been done by its neighbors in 
A^frica, England, France, and Germany, and as has been done by all 
the sovereign states in other parts of the world where the aborigines 
of races different from the black likewise held certain rights to the 
''ioil on which they dwelt. 



AFFAIRS IN THE KONGO. 205 

, Six months have elapsed since the transfer of the possessions of the 
independent state to Belgium became an accomplished fact The 
American Government, which has also had heavy colonial tasks to 
perform, especially since receiving the Philippines from the hands of 
fepam, will doubtless find that such a period of time is insufficient to 
put into final shape decisions that can only be reached after lono- 
preparation and meditation. ^ 

The Parliament at Brussels, with which the King's Government on 
assuming charge of the colony made the most formal engagements, 
shoAved itself firmly resolved to encourage and aid it ; b'lit'^ on the 
other hand, it fully realized at the time when the first colonial budo-et 
was under consideration that an undertaking of such magnitucle'^as 
that assumed by Belgium could not be accomplished offhand and 
that its realization would involve transitions requiring cautious treat- 
ment. It is indeed impossible for a government, conscious of itsS 
duties and responsibilities, to consent to the alteration of established 
conditions without being in position to replace them with new condi- 
tions, as it would thus take the risk of causing serious perturbations 
from which the whole colony would suffer. Any precipitate or ill- 
digested m.easure_ could but compromise the success of the mission of 
civilization inherited in Africa by the people of Belgium. 

Complete harmony prevails betAveen the cabinet and Parliament, 
both being upheld by every organ of public opinion in the aim to 
develop colonization in the Kongo in accordance Avith the interesta of 
civilization and with international obligations. The GoA^ernment of 
the King will evidence its intentions by acts, which it shall perform 
in its untrammeled independence. The new administration has reso- 
lutely applied itself to the task and its activity has already been 
manifested in practical measures. For instance, the minister of col- 
onies unhesitatingly concurred in a resolution adopted by a unani- 
mous vote of the Chamber of Representatives which declares that it 
is expedient to substitute in the nearest possible future the free 
enlistment of laborers for their impressment on the score of public 
utility in the construction of the Great Lakes Eailway, and that the 
chamber is convinced of the necessity of bringing about, without 
delay, tangible ameliorations in the condition of the laborers on the 
force, looking notably to a reduction in the term of service, a limita- 
tion of the zone of enlistment, and of the local quota of the force, a 
guaranty to the men so enlisted of compensation equal to that of free 
labor in the region, and the payment of such compensation in money. 

In the last part of its note the American Government expresses a 
wish to know whether the King's Government, by the statement that 
Belgium is prepared to fulfill all the engagements made with the 
Uniled States by the declarations of April 22, 1884, intended to con- 
fine the rights of the United States to the declarations of the Inter- 
national Association which preceded the sovereign Kongo State or 
equally recognizes the conventional rights conferred upon them by 
the treaty concluded with the independent state in 1891. 

It has never been intended by the King's GoA^ernment, since the 
cession of the Kongo to Belgium, to deny to the United States the 
benefit of the contractual arrangements which it had secured by the 
international acts of 1884 and 1891. The King's Government has 
already once declared in the pro memoria note of January 29, 1908, 



206 APFAIES IN TJ±E KOJNUU. 

and it has since repeated in its subsequent communications to the 
American Government, that it did not lose sight of the international 
obligations of the Kongo State. 

However, as stated by the minister for foreign affairs at the session 
of the Chamber of Kepresentatives of April 15, 1908,_ all the obliga- 
tions assumed by the Independent State can not survive the annexa- 
tion. This is invariably the case after the cession of one State to 
another. The principles and practice of international law leave no 
room for doubt on this point, as Secretary of State Sherman so 
clearly stated in his letter to the minister of Japan after the annexa- 
tion of the Hawaiian Islands. As regards the provisions of the con- 
vention of January 24, 1891, new arrangements, which the Brussels 
cabinet stands ready to negotiate with the American Government, are 
imperative, notably concerning the recourse to arbitration regulated 
hj a special article. Since the convention was signed arbitration has 
been made the subject of new international engagements on the part 
of both Belgium and the United States. The memorandum of July 
12, 1908, took that standpoint in considering the conditions under 
which Belgium would eventually accept the resort to arbitration. 

Indeed, the Belgian Government had given its attention to avert- 
ing the difficulties which might, after resorting to arbitration, flow 
from divergent interpretations, in the several territories which con- 
stitute the conventional basin of the Kongo, of the general principles 
laid down in the Berlin act and reproduced in certain conventions 
concluded by the Independent State, whereby a differential treat- 
ment, antagonistic to the said acts, would be created to the detriment 
of one of the territories. 

For that reason it said to the American Government in its memo- 
randum of July 12 " that it should be understood that recourse to 
arbitration would not be had unless the other powers holding posses- 
sions in the Kongo basin agreed to become parties to the case or to 
accept the interpretation given by the award of the arbitrator." It is 
still of opinion that such an adhesion of the powers concerned is 
highly desirable, that it is absolutely necessary, and that it should 
precede the resort to arbitral proceedings. 

It is self-evident that a proposal of arbitration could only relate to 
acts of the new colonial arbitration in order to be accepted by the 
Belgian Government. The interpretation given by that Government 
in commercial matters to the conventions concluded with the United 
States could alone afford occasion, after the failure of ordinary diplo- 
matic means, for recourse to that mode of procedure with the previous 
authority of the legislative bodies and all the usual reservations 
inserted in all the treaties relative to arbitration. 

The Cabinet of Washington appears to believe that instead of re- 
sorting to arbitration the Government of the King would reserve to 
itself the right to arrive at a direct understanding among all the 
powers holding territory in the conventional basin of the Kongo with 
a view to a settlement of all points in dispute. The Brussels "cabinet 
merely said in its memorandum of July 12 that there is, in its opinion, 
a better means than arbitration to solve contentious questions which 
might arise in that part of Africa, namely, a direct understanding of 
the powers possessing colonies therein. This course would offer the 
immense advantage of insuring the general observation and a uni- 



AFFAIES IN THE KONGO. 207 

form interpretation of the clauses of the act of Berlin. But the 
King's Government confines itself to suggesting and commending this 
course ; It does not assume to impose it. 

The convention of January 24, 1891, secures to American citizens 
the right to erect religious edifices, to organize and to maintain mis- 
sions in the Kongo, and they have largely availed themselves of that 
right. The Belgian Government has afforded to religious missions 
facilities for the purchase of land required for the development of 
the work of evangelization, by refraining from subjecting them to the 
public auction prescribed by the present law in cases of sale or lease 
of domanial land. But while it thus displays toward them the most 
confiding disposition, it expects that, for their part, the missionaries 
of all creeds will hold it their paramount duty to observe the laws 
and respect the public authorities of the country whose hospitality 
they enjoy. It would be highly gratified to receive the assurance of 
the friendly cooperation of the Government of the United States 
toward inducing the American citizens residing in the missions of 
the Kongo fully to meet this expectation. 



INDEX. 



A. 

"Africa No. 3 (1908) : " Page. 
Correspondence respecting taxation of natives and other questions in 

Kongo State, submitted to British Parliament 113 

"Africa No. 4 (1908) : " 

Further correspondence respecting taxation of natives and other ques- 
tions in Kongo State, submitted to British Parliament 149 

"Africa No. 5 (1908) :" 

Further correspondence respecting taxation of natives and other ques- 
tions in Kongo State, submitted to British Parliament 170 

"Africa No. 2 (1909) : " 

Further correspondence respecting taxation of natives and other qr.cs- 

tions in Kongo State, submitted to British Parliament 191 

Amelioration of natives of Kongo : 

Insisted upon by United States under Brussels treaty of 1890 16 

Annexation of Kongo to Belgium : 

Debate in Belgian Parliament 11 

Preliminary negotiations 25 

Plenipotentiaries appointed 26 

Colonial law (1907) proposed to Belgian Parliament for 26 

Regarded unsatisfactory to United States, views of Great Britain 

asked for — __ 29 

Concurrence of Great Britain, unofficially 30 

Declaration of policy of Belgian Government in 53 

Criticisms of Belgian press on interference of Great Britain in 67 

Treaty rights, etc., claimed by Great Britain 84 

Claimed by United States 88 

Colonial law (1908) proposed in Belgian Parliament for 91 

Abolition of forced labor and arbitration of commercial differences pro- 
posed by Great Britain 99 

Support of American minister directed 101 

Memorandum submitted on 106 

Reply of Belgian Government 156 

Debate in Belgian Parliament reported by Minister Wilson 108, 110 

Declaration of purpose of Belgium in, communicated by Belgian min- 
ister at Washington HI 

Law passed for government of colony 162 

Treaty of, resume of effects, submitted by Baron Moncheur 169 

Creation of department of colonies IJO 

Royal decree announcing '^'^ 

Colonial council organized l^^ 

Budget proposed in Belgian Parliament for administration expenses— 181 

German attitude on 1^^ 

Land sales and leases, policy of Belgian Government respectmg 18b 

Investigation of conditions undertaken by colonial minister 200 

Census to be taken, estimate of native population 201 

B. 

Belgium, annexation of Kongo to. (See Annexation of Kongo to Bel- 
gium.) 

Brussels treaty of 1890: ^. .^ -, r,^ ^ -• ir 

Amelioration of natives of Kongo insisted upon by United States under- lb 

Violation by Kongo authorities, protest of United States against S4 

Denial by Belgian Government '^'^ 

209 

4251— S. Doc. 147, 61-1 14 



210 INDEX. 

Bryce, James, ambassador from Great Britain: Page. 

Cooperation of United States in reforms in Kongo appreciated by Great 

Britain, announced by 82 

Annexation of Kongo, abolition of forced labor, and arbitration of com- 
mercial differences requested by Great Britain; support of 

United States requested in 99 

American minister instructed to join in 101 

O. 

Carter, John Ridgely, cbargg, American embassy at London : 

Instructed to communicate to British Government interest of United 

States in reforms in Kongo 9 

Cooperation by Great Britain reported by 9 

Reforms in Kongo, telegraphs that British minister at Brussels has 

been instructed to cooperate with Minister Wilson 54 

Annexation of Kongo, instructions to British minister in Belgium for- 
warded 84 

Census of Kongo : 

To be taken; estimate of native population 201 

Commercial policy of Kongo Free State: 

Land legislation in relation to, report on 101 

Conditions in Kongo, 1907 : 

Report of Consul-General Smith 30 

Report by Vice-Consul-General Memminger 41 

Currency in Kongo : 

Insufficiency of, complained of by British Government to Belgian 

authorities 117 

D. 

Diplomatic representatives to Kongo : 

Inquiry as to 23 

None accredited 23 

F. 
France : 
Boundary agreement with Kongo authorities 82 

G. 

Germany : 

Attitude on annexation of Kongo to Belgium 185 

Great Britain : 

Reforms in Kongo, interest of United States in, communicated to 9 

Cooperation by, assured 9 

Announcement in Parliament of cooperation with United States 11 

Grey, Sir Edward, British minister for foreign affairs : 
Interview with Belgian minister concerning Kongo communicated to 

British minister at Brussels by 113 

Instruction based on 114 

Memorandum on taxation and currency accompanying 117 

Reply of Belgian minister 146 

Interview with Belgian minister concerning Kongo communicated to 

British minister at Brussels by 149 

Memorandum of reply to answer of Belgian Government— 150 

Incloses copy of instructions received by Belgian minister from his 

Government 152 

Memorandum of Belgian reply to answer of British Government- 153, 160 
Memorandum of position of British Government, answer to reply of 

Belgian minister , 170 

Received from Belgian minister in reply to above 191 

Answer of British Government 196 

Great Lakes Railway : 

Requisition for Kongo laborers in constructing, discussed in Belgian 

Parliament 197, 199 



INDEX. 211 

II. 

Handley, William W., consul-general at Boma : Page 

Atrocities in Kasai district, summary of report of British consul on 

submitted by ' ^^-g 

K. 
Kasai district, Kongo: 

Atrocities committed by' concessionary company in, reported by Britisb 

Consul Tbesiger -l^yg 

Kongo Free State : 

Consul-General Slocum reports, to be a mere commercial undertaking 7 

Debate in Belgian Parliament on annexation of I H 

Conditions in 1907, report of American consular officers 30 41 

Treaty of annexation submitted to Belgian Parliament ' 43 

Withdrawn gj 

New treaty and accompanying legislation submitted I_ 72 

L. 
Labor in Kongo : 

Requisition for construction of Great Lakes Railway, discussed in Bel- 
gian Parliament I97 299 

Land legislation of Kongo : 

Report on, in relation to commercial policy 101 

Lands in Kongo : 

Policy of colonial council for sales and leases of 186 

" Lodge Resolution : " 

Possible effect of, on Belgian Parliament 22 

Text of 23 

M. 

Memminger, Lucien, American vice-consul-general at Boma : 

Conditions in Kongo, 1907, report by 41 

Missionary rights in Kongo, American : 

Correspondence with Kongo authorities insisting upon 88 

Moncheur, Baron, Belgian minister to United States : 

Annexation of Kongo, declaration of purpose of Belgium in 111 

Submits reply of Belgian Government to American memorandum relating 

to compulsory labor, and arbitration of commercial differences 156 

Kongo annexation, pamphlet containing text and resume of, submitted by_ 169 ' 

Annexation, official papers transmitted relating to ^ 176 

Acknowledged, and informed of attitude of United States on rights 

of natives and American commercial, etc., rights 182 

Reply to American memorandum 202 

P. 

Population of Kongo : 

Census to be taken; number of natives estimated 201 

R. 

Reforms in Kongo: 

Interest of United States in, communicated to Great Britain 9 

Cooperation of Great Britain assured 9 

Cooperation of United States with Great Britain announced in Parlia- 
ment by Sir Edward Grey 11 

Attitude of United States as to slavery telegraphed to Minister Wilson_ 16 

Communicated to the King 16 

Memorandum from Kongo Government in reply IS 

Reports of American consular officers on conditions in 1907 30,41 

Concerted action by Great Britain and United States suggested by 

British Government 42 

Annexation treaty of 1907; submitted 43 

Withdrawn from Belgian Parliament 57 

New treaty and accompanying legislation submitted 72 

Attitude of United States requires amelioration of condition of 

natives, minister to Belgium instructed 46 



212 INDEX. 

Reforms in Kongo — Continued. P^S®- 

Slavery in existence, report of Consul-General Smith .— 47 

Violation of Brussels treaty, cooperation of Great Britain asked to 

demand cessation 51 

Cooperation assured 54 

Protest against, made to Belgium 54 

Denial by Belgian Government 55 

Discussion in British Parliament 58 

Treaty of annexation, law proposed to carry into effect, new __ 72 

Satisfactory character of 77 

Cooperation of United States appreciated by Great Britain 82 

French boundary agreed to 82 

Instructions sent to Britii-h minister in Belgium as to treaty rights__ 84 

Colonial law proposed in Belgian Parliament for annexation of__: 91 

Memorandum of requirements for, insisted upon by United States 97 

Answer from Belgian Government 111 

Abolition of forced labor, and arbitration of commercial differences to 

be requested by British Government 99 

Support by American minister directed 101 

Memorandum submitted on 106 

Reply of Belgian Government ' 356 

Land legislation in relation to Kongo commercial policy, report on 101 

Rubber gathering suspended for one year 199 

Measures taken by colonial authorities stated in Belgian Parliament 201 

Reid, Whitelaw, American ambassador at Loudon : 
Colonial law for annexation of Kongo deemed unsatisfactory, directed 

to learn views of Great Britain 29 

Concurred in, unofficially 30 

Concerted action of British and American representatives in Belgium 

for reforms in Kongo by Sir Edward Grey to 42 

Communicated to Minister Wilson 42 

Root, Elihu, Secretary of State: 

Interest of United States in reforms in Kongo, London embassy di- 
rected by, to communicate 9 

Proposed colonial law for annexation of Kongo unsatisfactory, in- 
structs Ambassador Reid to obtain views of British Government- 29 

Concurrence of Great Britain assured 30 

Attitude of United States requires amelioration of condition of na- 
tives, instruction to Minister Wilson 46 

Violation of Brussels treaty by Kongo, requests cooperation of Great 

Britain to demand that it cease 51 

Annexation of Kongo, instructs Minister Wilson to express United 

States' views as coinciding with Great Britain SS 

Cooperation of Minister Wilson with British minister to secure re- 
forms directed by 101 

Informs Belgian minister of expectation that rights of natives to 

lands and American commercial rights will be respected 182 

Reply of Belgian minister 202 

Rubber in Kongo : 

Oppressive tax on collection of 184 

Gathering of, in Abir and Anversoise districts suspended for one year__ 199 

S. 

Senate resolution on conditions in Kongo : 

Possible effect on annexation to Belgium 22 

Text of ' 23 

Slave trade act. (See Brussels treaty.) 
Slavery in Kongo : 

Attitude of United States as to, telegraphed to Minister Wilson 16 

Communicated to the King 16 

Memorandum in reply from Kongo government denying existence of_ 18 
Slocum, Clarence Rice, American consul-general, Boma : 

Reports Kongo Free State a mere commercial undertaking 7 

Smith, James. A., American consul-general at Boma : 

Conditions in Kongo in 1907, report submitted by 30 

Existence of slavery reported by 1 47 



INDEX. 213 

Smith, James A., American consul-general at Boma— Continued. Page. 

Taxation in Kongo, transmits report of British consular officer on 47 

Upper Uturi District, report on political conditions of 79 

Land legislation in Kongo in relation to its commercial policy 101 

T. 
Taxation in Kongo: 

Severity of, reported by British consular officer 47 

Abuses of, complained of by British Government to Belgian authorities! 117 
Treaty of annexation of Kongo to Belgium : 

Submitted to Belgian Parliament 43 

Withdraw^n ~ 57 

New treaty and accompanying laws submitted 72 

D. 

Tipper Uturi district, Kongo : 

Political conditions of, report on 79 

W. 

Wilson, Henry Lane, American minister to Belgium : 

Annexation of Kongo, debate in Belgium Parliament reported by 11 

Slavery in Kongo, attitude of United States telegraphed to 16 

Communicated to the King 16 

Memorandum from Kongo government 18 

Senate resolution on Kongo, possible effect on Belgian Parliament 22 

Concerted action with Great Britain, British minister states time not 

yet opportune 43 

Annexation of Kongo by Belgium, treaty reported by 43 

Withdrawal of treaty : 57 

New treaty and accompanying laws submitted 72 

Attitude of United States requires amelioration of condition of 

natives 46 

Declaration of policy declared in Belgian Parliament 53 

Criticisms of Belgian press on interference of British Government 

with 67 

Violation of Brussels treaty, protest against submitted by British min- 
ister and 54 

Denial by Belgian Government 55 

Treaty of annexation and accompanying laws proposed 72 

Satisfactory character of 77 

Agreement with France as to Kongo boundaries, etc., reported by 82 

Rights of American missionaries in Kongo, correspondence with Kongo 

foreign office as to 88 

Colonial law proposed for annexation of Kongo, text submitted by 91 

Reforms in Kongo, memorandum specifying insistence of United States 

upon 97 

Answer by Belgian Government to Secretary Root 111 

Abolition of forced labor, and arbitration of commercial differences, 

instructed to support British minister in request for 101 

Memorandum submitted to Belgian Government 106 

Reply of Belgian Government 156 

Debate in Belgium Parliament reported 108,110 

Colonial law for government of 162 

Creation of department of colonies reported 170 

Royal decree announcing 177 

Colonial council organized 1°1 

Budget for administration of colonial affairs lol 

Land policy promulgated -—7.-" 

Great Lakes Railway, requisition for natives in construction of, dis- 

cussed in Belgium Parliament iqo 

Rubber gathering suspended for one year lyJ 

Enforced labor, discussed in Belgium Parliament 19-' 

Investigation of conditions undertaken by colonial minister 200 

Measures taken for reforms by Belgian Government ^01 

o 



LEAp'IO 



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